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VINDICATION 



OP 



MAJOR GENERAL JOHN C. FREMONT, 



AGAINST 



THE ATTACKS OF THE SLAVE POWER AND ITS ALLIES, 



BY 



HON. JOHN P. C. SHANKS, 



OF INDIANA, 



IN THE HOUSE OE KEPRESENTATIVES, 



Tuesday, MIrch 4, 1862. 



WASHINGTON, D. C. 

SCAMMELL & CO., Pkiktkrs, corner of Indiaka avenue axd Second strebt, 3rd floor. 

, 1862. 



■-V.v-} 




E 






SPEECH 



The House being in Committee of the Whole 
on the state of the Union — 

Mr. SHANKS said: 

Mr. Cbahrman : It is with feelings of much 
anxiety that I arise, under the peculiar circum- 
stances which surround me, to address this 
House on the subjects before it. 

My purpose is to call the attention of the 
committee to some of the matters contained in 
the " Report in part " of the committee on con- 
tracts, of which the gentleman from New York 
[Mr. Van Wyck] is chairman, only, however, 
so far as they relate to General John C. Fre- 
mont, and then only to a part of those at this 
time, as I intend, if possible, to take those 
subjects in detail when that report and accom 
panying resolutions may come before us. 

This " Report in part " was made on the 
17th day of December, and ha^ been sent 
from this House to all parts of the country. 
Its consideraiion haa been deferred from time 
to time, until some ten days ago it passed 
from its character of a special order to a special 
privilege in the hands of the committee. 

The country has had the charges for over 
two months, and yet not a word of defence from 
those whose characters have been challenged 
on testimony taken without notice to them. 
Bnt since I am compelled to speak in Com- 
mittee of the Whole, I shall take the privilege 
thus ofiPered me to draw attention to mdtters of 
more general importance to the country, as 
connected with him of whom I shall speak 
to-day, still hoping that the time may come 
when the matters named in the report to 
which I have referred shall be well known to 
the House and the country. 

The only subject among the several named 
by the committee, touching the administrative 
character of General Fremont, which they think 
worthy to ask special action by the House upon, 
is in relation to the purchase by him, as 
commander of the Western Department, for 
service in his cavalry, of 5,000 new cast-steel 



breech-loading HalPs carbines, of Simon Ste- 
vens for the sum of $22 apiece. This pattern 
of arm was approved years ago, and adopted 
as a Government weapon 5 and I learn that a 
manufactory for its fabrication was established 
at Harper's Ferry, Va. A copy of the army 
regulations of 1835 now before me gives the cost 
in detail of this arm for material and manufac- 
ture at $21 ; they were then smooth bored. 
On the 6th day of June, 1861, General Ripley, 
chief of the ordnance bureau, of this Govern- 
ment, claiming to act under an order from the 
War Department, which very order the com- 
mittee say his bureau recommended, sold to a 
Mr. Eastman 5,400 of these arms for the sum 
of $3 50 each — just one-sixth their original 
cost to the Government, Eastman had pro- 
posed to Ripley for an average of $1 apiece, 
to chamber and rifle these carbines in the style 
of the latest improved arm, but Ripley refused 
it, and got the order on the recommendation of 
his own department, and sold them as above 
stated. General Fremont, sorely pressed for 
arms, having none for his cavalry, and his en- 
tire command in need of early organization, 
wholly ni-^glected by the Government, as I will 
abundantly prove as I go along, received by 
telegraph from Stfevens the following despatch: 

New York, Auguslb, 1861. 
I liav-o 5,000 Hall's rifled cast-stc«l carbines, breech -load- 
ing, new, at twenty-two dollars, government standard, 
58-100 bore. Oin I hear from you ? 

SIMON STEVENS. 
J. C. Fremont. 

Maj. Gen., Com'g Dep'l of thf. West, Cairo, III. 

To which the following is an answer .- 

Headquarters WRSTtiRN Department, 

W. Louis, Auffuste, ISfil. 
I will Uikc the whole 5,000 carbines. See agent AUaras' 
Expres.'!, and send by express ; not last freight. I will pay 
all extra charges. Send also nmmunitiou. Devote yourself 
solely to that business to-day. 

J. C. FREJIONT, 
Major General Commanding. 
Simon Ste^-kns, A'eit) Torlc. 

This is a contract, and if honorably made by 
the Government's agent, it cannot now afford 



to violate it ; but ifl this case I only desire to 
lay the fault and blame where they belong ; for 
I agree with the committee that there haa been 
a most damnable fraud committed against the 
Government, but I now insist and will go on 
to prove that General Ripley is the man who 
has by his most unaccountable liberality with 
her much-needed arms, wronged the Govern- 
ment out of them for a nominal sum. The 
law provides as found " United States militfiry 
law- " on page 292, approved March ?>d, 1825, 
as follows : 

'■ That the President of the United States be, and he is 
hereby, authorized to cause to be sold any ordnance, 
arms, uniniunitioii, or other military stores or subsistence, 
or medical siipiilies, which upon proper inspection or sur- 
vej', shall a;ipear to be damaged, or otherwise unsuitable 
for the public service, whenever in his opinion, the sale of 
such unserviceable stores will be advantageous to the pub- 
lic service." 

It becomes a question whether the President 
has in the pressing need for arms during a war 
like the one now upon ua, ordered to be sold 
arms which General Ripley himself in a letter 
to Mr. Eastman under date of June 20, in- 
forming him where to get the carbines which 
were at arsenals on Governor's Island, N. Y., 
and Frankfort, Philadelphia, saying that East- 
man was to have " all of the Hall's carbines of 
every description (serviceable and unservice- 
able) on hand, at the rate of $3 50 each." I 
do not believe that the President did give such 
order; if he did it was on the recommendation 
of the department contracting them ; and I am 
well convinced that the President did not order 
serviceable carbines at that time to be sold at 
that price. 

The army regulations under dale of August 
10, 18G1, gives the price of Hall's carbines, at 
$17 as the cost of material and manufacture, 
which is four dollars less than in 1835 — 
owing to the improvement in machinery. 
The carbine will shoot as well now as then, 
when made in the same way ; but in looking 
over the list of prices of small arms manufac- 
tured by the Government, as found on pages 
.394 and 395, A rmy Regulations, August 10, 
1861, thev are as follows: Musket, $13; rifle, 
$13.25 ; Hall's carbines, $17 ; artillery muske- 
toon, f 10.37; cavalry musketoon, $11 ; sappers' 
■'Uisketuon, $ 1 0.62 ; pistol, $7. But some of those 
same carbines were purchased here, by those who 
sold them for $15. Before Fremont pincha?ed 
those 5,000, they were all chambered and 
rifled, making them a superior cavalry piece ; 
and they are now in service by Halleuk's 
cavalry, having been armed by Fremont when 
he commanded. Now this committee ask this 
House to recommend the Treasury to only 
pay $12.50 fo- those purchased by Fremont, 
when the army regulations, dated four days after 
the purchase, give the price, as shown, at 
$17. The committee propose to allow $4.50 
less than the material and manufacture, with- 
out the rifling and chambering costs, showing 
simply that the committee have not understood 



the case. Ripley sold them for $13.50 apiece 
less than the reguliitions of August, 1861, fix 
the actual cost, when there was no pres.sing 
need for sale, and Fremont gave after they 
were altered $5 more apiece than the Govern- 
ment price then, and only one dollar more 
than the Government price when he had been 
in service; yet the committee say that " General 
llipley is a gentleman of large experience, and 
inexorable in the performance of his public 
duties." On the 12th of April, 1861, the enemy 
attacked Fort Suqjter — on the 14ih it surrender- 
ed. On the 15th the President called for 75,000 
men to quell the rebellion, all of whom would 
need arms. On the 19th the traitors in Balti- 
more killed our unarmed troops in the strnets. 
On the 6th of June, the "inexorable" Ripley, 
on what he claims as authority from the War 
Department, grounded on a recommendation 
from his own department, and all in viola- 
tion of law, sold 5,400 carbines, for $3. 50 
each, which the regulation of 1835 tells us are 
worth $21 each, and the regulation published 
August 10th, 1861, sixty-four days after the 
Sile, gives the cost of manufacture at $17. On 
the 16th of June we lose Harper's Ferry where 
they were made, and surrender to the enemy 
all the arms there, with the machinery. On the 
20th of Junethe carbines are still in the arse- 
nals, not paid for and not delivered. Ripley, by 
written orders, directed that all, serviceable and 
unserviceable, be delivered to Eastman, at $3.50 
— subsequently buying 790 of them at $15. 

On August 6th, General Fremont, needing 
arms for men who were ready to defend a vast 
department, purchased 5,000 of them at $22 
in open market, where the Government officers 
had thrown them contrary to law, but of which 
he knew nothing. On the 10th of August, four 
days after his purchase, the very department 
which sold them at §3 50, report them at $17 
cost of manufacturing in Government arsenals. 
Yet you condemn Fremont and endorse Ripley, 
after you have said that the carbines were sold 
in the first place " privately." I think that the 
committee will do justice when they see these 
things in their true light. 

But the committee inform us the Ordnance 
Bureau, at whose head is General Ripley, in 
time of war r-icommends the sale, and sells, 
without law, for one-fifth their value, as shown 
by the books of his own office, five thousand 
four hundred stand of arms, with a loss to the 
Government of near $73,000, and holds his 
office still — and who is endorsed by the com- 
mittee. 

Inexperienced, I now approach with hesitancy 
to attack the cordon of fortifications thrown by 
experienced hands across the pathways of an 
honest, pure, devoted patriot for his destruc- 
tion, to satisfy the ambition of base and cor- 
rupt men, who, instead of supporting him, 
have seized upon the wisdom of his recorded 
councils and the armies and fleets by him 
spoken into existence, from which to gather 



the laurels due his rightful victories to 
wreathe their brows, while he wears a crown of 
thorns. 

My purpose is to do an act of justice to one 
who, tliougb his name and honor stands con- 
nected with this report and resolution, was not 
notified, nor could have been present, when the 
extrajudicial examination was had by the com- 
mittee upon which they are based. Nor can he 
he here now to defend himself upon this floor, 
against the unjust charges and inferences con- 
tained in them, against that name which has 
in this country long been a household word, 
synonymous with freedom, love 1 at home, hon- 
ored and respected abroad. 

I well recollect how the grateful thanks of 
our Western people went forth to meet the Pres- 
ident, tor the appointment of the brave and gen- 
erou-j Fremont to the othce of Major General, 
and in command of the Western Department ; 
^w with one accord our young men rallied to 
the support of the Union, with the cheering 
hope that he should command them. The ener- 
gy and perseverance of the people of our West- 
ern States have no just comparisons among 
men. It was not strange, then, that they should 
look with pride and hope to a command =ir whose 
courage, energy, and devotion to liberty, are 
proverbial throughout the civilized world. 

I recollect how it was proclaimed through 
the public journals, that he was the right man, 
in the right place. 

That as this war was the result of slavery''s 
treason, freedom\s patriotic dejetider was our 
proper commander. 

Our Western people are plain in manners, 
devoted in thought, and prompt in action. 
With one hope wie entered our country's ser- 
vice ; politics were forgotten among us ; our 
minds recalled, and our tongut^s retold the 
scenes of his past life, and rejoiced that the hour 
was nigh when (as we then hoped and believed) 
he shoui'i lead us to battle. 

Nor have the people been deceived by the 
many causeless and unjust efforts made by 
designing persons to destroy their confidence 
in one of the abh^st generals in the American 
army, and the boldest friend of freedom in the 
Government service. 

Conceal it as you may, misname it as you 
will, the elements which have combined for 
Gener-ii Fremont's destruction, are too ap 
parent to deceive the common sense and quick 
perception of our intelligent and patriotic peo- 
ple. They see it successfully developed in the 
desigrns of the slave power, as manifested to 
wards him by its leaders since his proclama- 
tion to ihi^ people of Missouri, of August .'50, 
18(31 — in a combination of long-known, iinder- 
mining politicians, and in a bigoted militarv 
jealousy. W« well know that General Fremont 
was given hh high rank in the army in obedi 
ence to the loudly and universally expressed 
wish of the people, who desired v/hen the R> - 
pablican party came into power that the ser- 



vices of its first representative, the man who 
had welded it together, under whom it had 
won its victories in '56, should be recognised. 
Against this wish to distinguish one of them- 
selves, the very men whom the people had ed- 
ucated into their positions, have set themselves 
in violent opposition, because he had not re- 
ceived with them the rite of infant baptism at 
West Point. 

Having from my youth learned to combat 
the world's wrongs and neglects and contend 
with its privations, I condemn the ingratitude 
of this class toward him, who only asks of the 
Government that he be allowed to continue in 
the active service of his country, leaving impar- 
tial history to determine between West Point 
and We-^tern patriotism. 

There are some chronological events which, 
when understood and recollected, will ma- 
terially aid in elucidating the positions I am 
taking in this case, as well as the action of 
those who strive with so much zeal to crush 
out every rising hope of him whom they have 
thus far practically victimized to their ungen- 
erous purposes. 

All will recollect the wide-spread national 
joy which pervaded all classes of pure, un- 
conditional Union-loving citizens,, when the 
lightnings told by telegraph that Fremont 
would take command in our army. He was, 
by those who note denounce him, then 
the brilliant, able, and patriotic son of the 
West, full of mind, energy, military skill, and 
promise ; and, in fact, these attributes were his 
before his promotion to command. So by the 
recognition of all men, and the contrary was 
not announced until his hand had written the 
proclamation of August 30, 18G1, a portion of 
which is in the following memorable words, 
and which places his name in history honor- 
ably, and in most pleasing unity with his life 
from his earlier adventures when he saved the 
State of California to freedom. 

Bat to the proclamation : 

" The property, real and personal, of all per- 
' sons in the State of Mi'^souri, who shall take 
' up arms against the United States, or who 
' shall be directly proven to have taken active 
' part with their enemies in the held, is de- 
' clared to be confiscated to the public use, 
• and their slaves, it any they have, are hereby 
' declared free nieii." 

This v?as the head and front of his offending — 
the key note on which rallied all the clans ia 
combination against him. It was but a few 
hours after he had said that traitors' property 
should help to pay the expenses of the war, 
forced on us by them, and that their slaves 
should be Iree, until from Kentucky and Mis- 
-louri, from the friends of slavery, who have not 
risked their lives in this war, came invectives 
against him and in favor of the cause which 
wrongs us. 

Prior to this time, neglect of the Western 
department and Western men had been the 



8 



The inevitable conclusion in every mind is, 
that the inquisition and concurrent publications 
to which I have referred, were but the prepara- 
tory ^teps to do what they knew to be a grave j 
wrong, and which the public mind would not 
receive until trained to it by a succession of i 
approaches, made upon it from different quar- i 
ters and iudueuces, which the sequel to this i 
history of wrongs will show to have been most i 
assiduously applied. | 

Culminating in the "temporary" relief of 
Fremont from command — retiring of the army 
from ipringdeld, followed by robbery and blood- 
shed over two-thirds of the State — the combi 
nation and conspiracy against him was gain- 
ing numbers and strength. The force against 
him had assumed form. Slavery was its centre 
column: political knavery commanded on the 
right wing as the post of honor in this most 
unholy crusade, and on the left were semi-trai- 
tors in office and influence, disappointed con- 
tractors, and Treasury plunderers. 

But the great miscreant in this struggle of 
wrong against right is slavery ; whose advocates, 
plying with their usual activity and ingenuity, 
like great and practiced criminals in the com- 
mission of fraud, securing its profits, yet avoid- 
ing that justice due to the committers of 
those accursed crimes so long inflicted upon 
our country ; and which have been borne with 
until we have lost that manhood which God 
iuteuded all men should have, as a safeguard 
against wrong and oppression. 

The responsibility on the people of this coun- 
try at this time is a fearful one, and fearfully 
we will answer it, unless freemen stand up and 
demand freemen's rights. 

The coming Presidential campaign is looked 
to by ihocie men with the keen perception of long- 
practiced political schemers. A transposition of 
the locality of President and Vice President, 
will, as a political necessity, take place. As the 
North and South are in conflict, the East and 
West will be required to change hands upon 
this question. 

Those who cannot expect from this and other 
reasons to reach the higher, will hope that mere 
locality may possibly give them the lower of 
those positions. And knowing that the public 
mind will be incensed at the accursed cause of 
slavery v/hich has produced all our national 
calamities, it becomes necessary to shape that 
pablic mind so as to receive another cheat and 
treason as preliminary to its still iurlher use, by 
men devoid of that lofty devotion to country 
which marks the real good mau, but yet who 
rejoice in their unjust successes at the nation's 
expense and sacrifice ; and to effectually do 
this, it become^TDecessary to strike down the 
man who is himself the consistent and acknowl- 
edged representative of that great truth of his 
proclamation, which finds at this time, regard- 
less ot party, a welcome response in the hearts 
of the Northern people. And knowing that 
they abhor diahouor iu their public servants, his 



persecutors shrewdly attempt to fasten that 
charge upou Fremont by the arts of practiced 
demagogues and energy of bad men in a bad 
cause, with the success which follows for a 
time the efforts of combinations against the 
single-handed, who, attending to his own duty, 
does not anticipate or prepare for the associated 
treason of dishonest men. 

I know that the combination is a strong one, 
and that General Fremont, because a friend of 
freedom, is the sacrifice to be offered by author- 
ity on the altar of his country as a peace-ofifer- 
ing to the slave power. It is but the first step of 
that march to degradation which you will all 
soon recognise; for the want of nerve and man- 
hood to repel the aggressors and to sustain Fre- 
mont in hig proclamation will come upon us 
from this same combination, which is one for 
power and place ; and when this war is ended, 
with rebel slavery protected by the Government, 
those slaveholding traitors will turn upon you 
in these Halls, denounce your brave soldiers as 
a rabble, and rejoice at the blood they have 
spilled. Under the protection of the flag they 
have desecrated and torn, they will lash their 
slaves to daily toil — protected by the laws they 
have violated and denounced, they will scorn 
the widows and orphans their treachery has 
made, and again will they strike down any 
representative who in these Halls dares to point 
out their crime. You will talk of the high mission 
and glory of the nation, while rebels stand, by 
your permission — nay, with you sanction ; ah ! 
with still more, your protection — with one hand 
on the throat of their slaves who are patriots, 
and with the other tears the flag which is the em- 
blem of our national honor. You see this, you 
know it; the world sees it and condemns it; 
all civilized men pity you, and scorn the im- 
becility which permits it. You endorse tha 
proclamations of generals in favor of protecting 
slavery. At this moment we are asked to en- 
dorse and make a law of the lats jubilant 
repetition of General Halleck's Order No. 3. 
You send your sons to fight this war, brought 
on by slaveholders, for the purpose of per- 
manently establishing slavery on the ruins of 
our Government. Slaves aid their rebel mas- 
ters iu every species ot the labor of war, and 
procuring supplies for their armies. You listen 
to, and endorse the proclamations of those gen- 
erals who avow that this relation of master and 
servant, even of Bebels, shall not be molested; 
protecting, by this means, the very forces you 
are warring, aud holding the enemies' weapons 
at the heart of our friends. 

Not only so, but the slaves themselves are 
loyal, and would be true to our flag and peo- 
ple. To endorse slavery is a mark reckless 
enough in this age of civilization ; but for free- 
men to aid in holding those persons in bondage 
to the traitors of the country, men whom we 
despise aud loathe, is a degree of ingratitude 
which the negro himself will pity in us, and 
feel proud that he is a slave. It is not enough 



that the nation has lost over twenty thousand 
of her brave sons by death in hospital and bat- 
tle-field ; that Rachel is wseping for her chil- 
dren, and will not be comforted, because they 
are not ; that the blood of those four hundred 
and eighty brave young men stained the ensan- 
guined field of Manassas ; that the disgrace of 
that struggle has severely rebuked our wonted 
prestige in war; that we have spent in this 
causeless rebellion over |G00, 000,000, and with 
the inevitable necessity before us of spending 
hundreds of millions more ; that the Ball's Bluff 
murder is but a part; of this accursed tragedy, 
where treason and treasonable blunders mur- 
dered by the hands of slavery's maddening de- 
mons a brave and loved officer and a thousand 
pure patriots ; that at Springfield, Lyon and 
his men struggled against a fearful and hellish 
power, until, outnumbered, he and hundreds of 
his soldiers lay down, for the last time, and 
their dead and mangled bodies become prison- 
erg to traitors, who could not conquer them 
while living. It is not enough that at Rich 
Mountain, Cornifes Ferry, Belmont, Freder- 
ickton, Lexington, Springfield, Roanoke, Forts 
Henry and Donelson, our brave brethren fell 
mardered by traitors, for slavery; but these 
same traitors are to be protected and apologized 
for here, and the man who dared to proclaim 
their property confiscated to the public use, and 
their slaves freemen, is hunted down through 
every avenue which human ingenuity can in- 
vent, prompted by the most remorseless desire 
to fasten on us and continue this cause and or- 
igin of all our woes. Of history we learn noth- 
ing ; our own we do not study. We blindly sit 
here while the vortex is opening again to re- 
ceive us. The blood of our people, the tears of 
our widows and orphans, the sword of the army, 
and the Congress of the nation, all fail to do a 
simple act which God has warned us, through 
lamentations and sorrow, is our duty to man- 
kind and to Him. Bat in face of all this, we 
support those who, with vulture eye,, have 
hunted the friend of freedom to his fall, and 
have divided his garments. 

The charge of inefiiciency was too shallow a 
pretext to deceive any one, more especially the 
Western people, who bore witness to his trials 
and his efforts, as well as the results of his 
labors in his extensive department, " which 
was the State of Illinois and the States and 
Territories west of the Mississippi river and on 
this side the Rocky Mountains, including New 
Mexico," and subsequently including a part; of 
Kentucky and the river. 

He took command of the Western Depart- 
ment wholly, without special instructions, with 
full discretionary power to conduct himself 
under the arduous duties of that position as his 
judgment should dictate. He entered upon his 
duties at St. Louis on the 25th day of July, 
•ISfil, and found the department in the most 
deplorable condition, almost without arms and 
military stores, wholly without money, clothing. 



or provisions. From the 6th of June previous 
Missouri had been in the command of General 
McCIellan, and from the perplexed and needy 
condition of the Government, had been wholly 
but unavoidably neglected. Lyon's troops had 
not been paid or clothed by the Government 
during the time he commanded them. General 
Lyon was in the southwest part of Missouri, need- 
ing reinforcements. There was trouble in the 
northwest, requiring more troops than we had 
there. In the northeast part of the State we 
had barely enough troops to meet the ene- 
my ; while in the southeast, Bird's Point, Cape 
Girardeau, Ironton, RoUa and St. Louis, with 
Cairo, Illinois, were threatened by a large force 
of the enemy, and no adequate preparations 
made to meet the emergency. The railroads 
were continually threatened and frequently de- 
stroyed — the incendiary's torch performing its 
office; arms were taken from Union men by 
squads of rebels all over the State; treason 
walked on the highways and denounced the flag 
and Government with impunity. The State 
was wild with excitement, persons flocking to 
the rebel standard from the very doors of the 
Government officers — St. Louis itself seething 
with treason and rebelion. 

" The State government in inextricable con- 
fusion unable to lend a helping hand ; no arms, 
no equipments, no horses for cavalry, no large 
guns for batteries, or small guns for field artil- 
lery; all the affairs of the Department in helpless 
confusion ; no system, no money, no officers, 
and no credit ;" the Department entirely neg- 
lected by those whose duty it was to provide 
for it. 

The whole country was in commotion. The 
failures of our army of the Potomac at Bull's 
Run and Manassas : its retreat on Washington ; 
the surrender of Harpers' Ferry with our arse- 
nal and arms, the machinery of which for man- 
ufacture fell into 1:he enemy's hands ; the retir- 
ing of Patterson from the Virginia shore — had 
all gone to embolden the rebels, who were then 
much better armed than were our forces. The 
authorities at Washington, trembling at the ad- 
vance of a victorious enemy, who were within 
sight of the Capitol, wereusiug every effort to 
make " Washington safe," having but one man- 
ufactory for arms left, and but few arms in the 
arsenals or market, the major part of them 
having been plundered by Floyd and his trai- 
torous coadjutors, left the Western Department 
almost destitute. 

All the arms which could be procured by the 
Government were sent to the army of the Po- 
tomac. Its money was spent there ; its clothing 
was forwarded and used there ; the demand was 
great and the supplies small. In vain did Gen- 
eral Lyon, days and weeks before Fremont's 
arrival, plead tor money to pay his needy troops, 
and with which to provide commissary and 
quartermaster's stores. In vain did he ask them 
to pay the debts he had contracted. In vain 
did he call for arms and reinforcements. Iq 



10 



vain did he notify the Government that his troops 
had neither pay nor clothing tVom the Gov- 
ernment during their three months' service — 
that their families were in want, they dispirited 
from the neglect and unwilling to re-enlist on 
account of it. In vain did Fremont plead for 
arms. In vain did he ask for money and mili- 
tary stores ; compelled to contract loans on his 
own responsibility to pay troops and furnish 
troops and arms. In vain did he inform the 
Government that hia troops were mutinous and 
those whose times were expiring unwilling to 
re-enlist on account of the failure to pay. He 
importuned until a Cabinet officer wrote to him 
that he could get no attention to the West or- 
Western matters ; that he must take every need- 
ful responsibility to save the people over whom 
he was specially set. 

Such are the ordeals through which Lyon 
and Fremont passed,, and paved the way "to 
others' honor and renown. 

When General Fremont took command of 
the Western department, there were less than 
twenty-five thousand troops in the entire com- 
mand ; of which forces ten thousand were three 
months' men, all of whose time expired within 
ten days after his arrival, leaving him some fif 
teen thousand in all that vast department. Of 
the whole forces, Lyon had near one-third at 
Springfield; the remainder were with Pope in 
North Missouri ; Prentiss, Cairo; Lawler, Bird's 
Point; Bland, Pilot Knob ; Wyman, at Rolla; 
Shrifel, Lexington ; Stephenson, at Booneville ; 
Smith and Marsh, at Cape Girardeau ; and 
Burnstine, at Jefferson City ; with a remnant 
at St. Louis ; all the Missouri troops poorly 
clothfed, not paid, some of them badly armed, 
and dispirited ; whilst, as I have said, 'the ene- 
my, buoyant with hope, had over sixty thou- 
sand men in the field, and their forces fast 
augmenting. 

Pillow, in southeast Missouri, 17,000 ; Har- 
dee, near Greenville, 7,000 ; Price, southwest, 
threatening Lyon, with near 30,000 ; Hsirris, in 
northeast, with 1,600 ; Green, in northwest, 
with over 1,500; Thompson and Watkins, near 
Girardeau, 5,000; making a total of 62,100. 

The enemy had cavalry and large amounts 
of artillery ; while the Federal forces.were with- 
out cavalry and but little artillery ; the whole 
State in revolt, and the young men joining the 
/ enemy. General Fremont, fully anticipating 
the wants of his vast department, and well 
knowing the needs of the Govurument, with its 
disposition to call arms, ammunition, and sup- 
plies to Washington, on receiving iiiformatiou, 
while in this city, from Governor Yates of Illi- 
nois, that he bad seven thousand men ready 
to march, only that they were without arms, 
called ou General Ripley, of the Ordnance 
Department, and obtained^ promise that, out 
of twenty-five thousand stands of arms then on 
hand, seven thousand stands should be imme- 
diately forwarded to the West for those troops. 
On the next day, Ripley informed General Fre- 



mont, at New York, that the Grovernor of Illi- 
nois must be mistaken in wanting arms, and 
that they could not be had. Of this he notified 
the President through the Postm.a8ter General, 
who informed him that the President would in 
person attend to this matter; which he did by 
the appointment of Major Haguer to assist 
General Fremont in procuring arms by piir- 
chase for the West. And, notwithstanding this 
precaution and kindness by the President, the 
arms and supplies purchased for the West were 
sent by Haguer to Washington for the army of 
the Potomac as appears in the committee's 
report of Hagner's testimony. Not over about 
2,000 stands of arms came from Hagner to 
Fremont. 

Another ruse played on Fremont was to 
send an order, dated July 2-4, 1861, for five 
thousand stands of arms on the arsenal at St. 
Louis, when there were none there to fill the 
order. 

Large amounts of those that were there in 
the spring of 1861 were rifled and repaired, 
under the supervision of this same Major 
Hagner, v/ho then had charge of the arsenal, 
and delivered to General Buckner, which have 
been used against our troops in Kentucky, 
until captured by the forces under Generals 
Grant, Wallace, McClernaad, and Smith, and 
Commodore Foote, which is a part of the army 
raised by General Fremont. On his arrival 
in the West, the Government was almost des- 
titute of supplies, being compelled to send her 
agents into the open market to purchase for 
the Potomac army. Different Governors also 
had their agents in the market, purchasing 
supplies for iheir respective States; all of which 
were competing with each other, raising the 
prices at cimes to much more, and seldom at 
as little as the real peace price of the arms 
and munitions of war. To show the House the 
very high prices which arms and ammunition 
reach in times of war, in Governments where 
as in this country, ample national factories 
have not been constructed and in use, I will 
read from a treatise on the rise in prices in 
arms and ammunition in England during the 
Crimean war : 

" When a siuMen tlemanfl aroFO for an enormous supply 
of the munitidus of war, not only were private establish- 
ments unable to provide them in sufficient quantities, but 
those that were supplied wore i)ro(luC!-'d at a cost consid- 
erably beyond, and in some cases of four and live times 
their value, and of a cpiality sojnferior as to involve great 
risk tif the failure of miliUiry operations. 

"The shells for which the contractors during the late 
(Russian) war charged $324 por ton, are now produced in 
tht.' Governraunt facloricB for $06 per ton." 

It was during such a struggle for arms that 
General Frt^mont was compelled to enter the 
market without money to compete with the 
United States and the several States in the pur- 
chase of arms for his needy department, of 
supplies for his gun-boats and his mortar-boats^ 
and to equip his land and river forces* with 
a concentration of which to quell a gigantic 
rebellion in the vast country included in hia 



11 



command. He could not advertise, for he had 
no money to pay for what was required. He 
could only get what people were willing to let 
him have upon credit. And it is v/orth while 
naming, in thia connection, that the Govern- 
ment is at this moment refusing to pay for the 
supplies thus furnished. 

At this moment, and ever since the removal 
of General Fremont, an illegal committee, pre- 
sided over by the man most instrumental in the 
procuring of General Fremont's removal, and 
violently opposed to him politically, has been 
sitting in inquisition upon bis administration 
at St. Louis — annulling contracts. I repeat, 
annulling contracts. The Essex, which, since 
before the battle of Belmont, has been active 
in protecting Kentucky, and bore a distin- 
guished part in the victories which have glad- 
dened and revived the loyal part of the na- 
tion — that very Essex, costing much less than 
half the price of the gun-boats built by Govern- 
meut — delivered to the Government completely 
finished and furnished, not only- with every ar- 
ticle of necessity, but even of comfort, including 
the cabin furniture of the oSicers and crew — 
put on board aud paid for by the private means 
of the officer employed to baild her, (Captain 
Adams;) even for this they have refused to 
pay, but stracli: off two-thirds from the fair aud 
reasonable cost, and that upon the full and de- 
tailed exhibition of the most satisfactory vouch- 
ers. And this, because this boat was built under 
the orders of General Fremont Compelled to 
strike a bargain wherever he could, he offered — • 
single-Iianded — the credit of the Government, 
and plead his pressing necessity as an excuse 
for the offer; aud though thus burthened with 
duties which belong to the Government, and 
which for all her other generals except Lyon 
she has performed, he procured his arms and 
supplies,equipped and managed his army, throw- 
ing his forces along those vast distances, quiet- 
ing and controlling the rebellion, repairing rail- 
roads and building bridges, and discharging all 
the duties of ofiicers of armies organized, and 
wkicii do not move, in additio!i to those services 
of which I have spoken. And yet we are told he 
is inefficient. By whom ? Why, sir. by that 
cabal which has pursued him because of his proc- 
lamation, in which are the friends of that fcsti- 
tution of slavery here held above the peace of 
families, the desolation of societies and States, 
the sacrifice of property, and the lives of free 
men ; a cause whose advocates find no sorrow 
or shame in marshalling its hosts for strife antJ. 
blood against the Government, its law, peace, 
and citizens. 

General Fremont is always successful when 
pursuing the dictates of his own judgment, 
which early pointed out the necessity of having 
guu-boals and mortar-boats to use on the rivers 
in connection with his laud forces. He had 
such constructed, the first under the supervision 
of the brave and competent Commodore Foote, 
who commanded them with honor to himself 



and the country ; the mortar-boats by that most 
excellent officer and gentleman, Mr. Adams. I 
clip the following just remarks from the New 
York Times relative to these boats : 

"Speaking' of tho success of Footo and I'orter, does it 
occur to you to look back aud give credit whore credit is 
duo, to tlio man vrho planned tho enterprises which have 
yielded such abundant returns? Do you recollect that 
among thO first charges that were brought against Fremont 
was the one that ho was waatiu!; money in building gun- 
boats to be used on the Western rivers, and that an unend- 
ing flood of ridicule and abuse was heaped upon what was 
called ' his visionary schiemo ? ' Fremont has not been per- 
mitlail to reap tho lull harvest of the seed he planted ; but 
the future will know that for tho fall of Fort Henry, and 
probably for the ultimate reduction of Columbus and the 
clearing out of the Mississippi , the nation will be indebted 
to General Fremoiit's foresight and adaptiition of means to 
an end. The campaign oi the Wi^st is coming back to the 
lines npon which Fremont stood when his triumphant career 
was cut short. Thus time and circumsUmcosare vindicating 
hftu , aUuosI Ijoforc the ink is dry upon the paper that doomed 
liim to inaction, and for a time to public censure." 

After General Fremont had well secured his 
outposts, and fortified them, with the fortifica- 
tions of St. Louis in an advanced state, he moved 
his forces to the towns of California, Tipton, Sy- 
racuse, Sedalia, aud Georgetown, his headquar- 
ters to Jetfcrson city, thence to Tipton, intend- 
ing to move in pursuit of the array under Price, 
in seven divisions, under Generals Sigel, As- 
both, McKinstry, Pope, Hunter, Sturgis, and 
Lane ; in all near forty thousand men. 

On the llih of October, Secretary Cameron 
and Adjutant-General Thomas reached St. 
Louis, as I learn from their published journal ' -V 
events, so injudiciously given by Thomas t/:« the 
country, and after examining the fortifics-tions 
there, reached Tipton, where I saw the Secretary, 
on Sunday the 13th of the same month, review- 
ing a portion of the troops there and .in Syra- 
cuse, leaving the same day, and on the 14th 
ordered the v/ork on the fortifications at St. 
Louis to be stopped. This was done without no- 
tice to Fremont. And at the time Messrs. Came- 
ron and Thomas were in his camp, they were 
the bearers of an order to relieve him of com- 
mand, dated October 7th, six days pri:)r to 
their visit. Yet they did not serve the order 
or inform the General that such was in being. 
This ordfer was left in St. Louis, in the hands 
of inferior officers, and General Fremont per- 
mitted to march South with his forces in pur- 
suit of Price, which he did with the full 
knowledge of Secretary Camerou and Adjutant 
Thomas, on the morning of the 1-Uh. On the 
morning of the Itith, two days after Fremont 
left the railroad at Tipton, the Van Wyck com- 
mittee commenced its investigations at St. 
Louis. And the order lor the relief of Gene- 
ral Fremont from command was changed from 
the 7th to the 24th of October, as will appear 
by reference to the instrument itself. The 
committee closed their testimony on the 29th, 
five days after the alteration of the date of the 
order — which, thus mutilated hv irresponsible 
hands, was served on him at Springtitdd, No- 
vember 2d, one hundred and thirty miles from 
where Secretary Cameron left him. The order 
to relieve General Fremont was signed by Gen- 



12 



eral Scott, and before'^ it was served on him, 
which was 2G days after its first, and 9 days af- 
ter its last date, General Scott had retired from 
service, and General McClellan was Comman- 
der-in-chief; and so strangely was this business 
transacted, that General McClellan on the 2d 
of November, the same day that General Fre- 
mont was relieved at Springfield, Missouri, 
issued an order at Washington, directing him 
what course to pursue with his army. This was 
duly received on the 4th, by General Fremont, 
two days after its date, on his way to St. Louis, 
in obedience to the prior order. 

This is the most singular conduct ever em- 
anating from any department of any Gg^vern- 
ment. Let ns review it. An order to relieve the 
Major General commanding the Western de- 
partment is issued and signed by the Com- 
mander-in-chief, October 7 ; is carried by the 
Secretary of War and his Adjutant General to 
the camp of the commanding general, six days 
after its date, and knowing that he is intending 
to move with an army of forty thousand men, 
in pursuit of an enemy in the field, with all 
the equipments for war, do not serve the order 
or prevent the movement of the army. After 
he has gone from the last point of prompt com- 
munication, they stop the work on the fortifica- 
tions ordered by him prior to starting.' Tv/o 
daysafterthis an investigating committee, which 
wa^ appointed by Congress sixteen days before 
"Major General Fi-emont entered on his duties 
(and, notwithstanding this committee was ap- 
pointed at the instance of the chairman to ex- 
amine the Secretary's conduct, then chal- 
lenged by him as imprudent and unjust,) com- 
mence an investigation of this new department, 
without notice to the General of its purpose, 
gathering its information from his avowed 
known and personal enemies — the date of 
the order to relieve changed by irresponsible 
infiirior officers to the 21th of same month. 
The committee closed their investigation on the 
29t,h, five days after this change of date. The 
order is not served until the 2d of November, 
nine days after its last date, and four days 
after the committee close their t'istimony, 
when an order from McClellan reached Warsaw, 
Missouri, in two days. The trip can be readily 
,Tuade from St. Louis to Springfield in three days, 
being IGO miles by railroad and 1!50 by good 
wagon road. The investigating committee com- 
menced its labors two days after he started from 
the railroad, and left, before he returned. And 
the Cummander-inchief did not know that a 
Major General was relieved twenty-six days 
after the order issued. 

Whether this singular coincidence was, by 
the committee, recognised at the time, I do 
not know ; but that no man's good name should 
be assailed in his absence, without notice, has 
been settled as good law. 

And that a commander-in-chief should learn 
in less than twenty-six days that an order to 
relieve a Major General, who was commanding 



an extensive department, with over sixty thou- 
sand troops, had issued, will hardly need affir- 
mation here. 

It will be remembered that whilst he pur- 
sued Price with a heavy force, his occupation 
of Kentucky, at Paducah, Cairo, Illinois, with 
almost the entire State of Missouri, was fully 
established and maintained. His removal at 
the time he had succeeded in concentrating 
his forces at Springfield, for his certain and 
swift descent on Price's army, was fatal, not 
only to him, but to the State of Missouri and 
the country. With an army in high spirits, well 
disciplined, with some seven thousand cavalry, 
eighty-six pieces of artillery, and the remainder 
iafautry, abundant trains, with provisions, 
such as could not be procured in the country, 
had it not been for two occurrences, which 
are worthy of notice here. General Fremont 
would have engaged Price before the order for 
his relief reached him. One was the swollen 
condition of the Osage river, over which Ire 
threw a trussel bridge 800 feet in length through 
a deep and rapid current in thirty-six working 
hours — getting the material from the forest — on * 

which his army passed with all his artillery and 
stores, and returhcd again under General 
Hunter. The second hindrance was the tardy 
movements of Generals Pope and Hunter. * 

The country has been informed, by the pub- 
lication of Adjutant General Thomas's diary 
of his peregrinations through Missouri and 
Kentucky, among other and singular things, 
that for w^nt of means of transportation 
General Fremont's army could not move at all, 
which at the date of his report had tioved sixty 
miles from where he saw it, and built a bridge 
over a navigable river, and moving on ; and, 
secondly, that Generals Hunter and Pope 
could not do so for the same reason. To dis- 
abuse the public mind, I will insert the state- 
ment of Col. I. C. Woods, chief of transporta- 
tion, made to the General, under date of Octo- 
ber 18, at Warsaw, showing the amount and 
character of transportation of each division of 
the army, except Generals Sturgis and Lane's. 
The report shows the number of teams, whether 
Government, hired, or pressed, of each division, 
at that date : 

Govornmcat. Iliroil. 
Gon. Hunter. .. .20!) 
Gou. l-'opc 90 ' 



Gon. SiK'c'l 102 


25 


Knoagb 


Pi 


opscd to move 


Gen. AslK.tli....l05 


15 


«0 




" 


(Jon. McKinslrv- 30 










Co!. MiirslKill.".. .0 




12 




'1 


Maj. Holmiui ... :} 










Maj. Zugonyi.. .. V2 




2 . 




" for banit. 


lluudquartui'S. . . 16 




3 




" 



Ca3 -10 97 

Yet Pope reached Springfield only on the 
2d of November, and flunter late in the eve- 
ning of the ;3d, and his command on the 4th, 
where Fremont and the other divisions had 
been for over a week. And though the roads 
were good, their teams did not arrive with tents, 
cooking utensils, and provisions, for some 



13 



time afterwards, puting their men to severe and 
unnecessary exposure, which I saw with sorrow, 
and of which I have a right and a will to speak 
of here. A portion of my constituents were 
in those coraruauds. The neglect was unneces- 
sary, and I am .now as I was then, and there 
stated, firmly convinced that it was done to 
create distrust in the minds of the troops against 
General Fremont ; and that they had teams is 
further evidenced by their subsequent arrival. 
The advance divisions saved their men by 
hauling their knapsacks, leaving them their 
arms and ammunlfion to carry — the roads were 
good. The world may tletermine whether it 
was a part of the combination, when they know 
who took command. 

While General Fremont was at Springfield, 
Price with a much heavier force was at Cass- 
ville, and at intermediate points between those 
places — his advance at one time reaching to 
Wilson's Creek battle ground, ten miles from 
Springfield ; his heaviest forces being at Cass- 
ville, and McCuUough at Flat Creek, nearer 
our forces. That the armies would soon have 
met and' fought is beyond any doubt, unless 
Price had again fied ; and in that case every 
preparation was made for a most vigorous 
pursuit, with ample amounts of stores for 
the severest campaign. It ha? been said that 
Price was not in force and threatening a 
battle. I -shall be willing to believe what such 
officers as Sigel, Asboth, Albert, and nu- 
merous scouts, loyal citizens of Missouri, as 
well as officers from our camp sent to Price's 
for the exchange of prisoners, bel,ieved to be 
true, I conversed with them at the time. 
In this belief, I particularly rely on the state- 
ments of General Franz Sigel, whose reputa- 
tion as a military commander is established 
both in Europe and America, who had com- 
mand of the advance, and who used in my 
presence to Colonels Hudson and Lovejoy, the 
following words : " I know that we will fight 
Price in forty-eight hours ;" and but for the 
arrival of Huuter and Pope, and removal of 
Fremont, it would have taken place. The arri%'al 
of two divisions of an army was to Price tan- 
gible, and his information certain, that Fre- 
mont's forces had reached him; but that General 
Fremont would be removed at that time, and 
under the circumstances surrounding him and 
his army, no man of Price's good sense would 
believe, even if he had heard it. That Hunter 
believed the advance of the enemy to be near 
I am well convinced from the caution he ex- 
ercised in making a reconnoissance in force to 
the old battle ground, in which I accompanied 
him. And, again, only eight days after General 
Hunter's order to retire with his forces north 
of the Osage river, Price followed him, and 
captured part of his train, and for thirty-six 
consecutive days ravaged all the country south 
of the Osage, and much of that lying north of 
it. At the town of Warsaw, where General 
Fremont crossed the Osage river, and General 



Hunter returned on the bridge of which I have 
spoken, if we are to believe the newspapers, our 
own officers burned a portion of our quartermas- 
ter and commissary stores, to prevent their falling 
into the hands of the enemy, so closely were they 
pursued more than one hundred miles north of 
Springfield. We all rejoiced over victories made 
by General Davis, with part of Pope's division, 
more than one hundred miles north of where 
Fremont had carried peace and quiet. Sir, 
the voice of citizens plundered, and the blood 
of loyal men murdered in all that country by 
the enemy, after General Fremont's removal, 
will rise up against those who were engaged in 
procuring it. 

To-day we are again rejoicing over victories 
of our brave troops at Springfield, and on the 
exact lines of march which Fremont made and 
intended to make. These gun-boats and mortar- 
boats scour the rivers, carrying all before them ; 
the forces organized by him now in Kentucky 
under the brave Generals Smith, Grant, Wal- 
lace, and McClernand ; and the forces under 
General Buell are marching on the identical 
roads, and taking the same towns, v/hich Gen- 
eral Fremont advised the President, by the 
following letter of September 8, should be se- 
cured : 

[Private.] 

IlEADQUARTEKji M'EbTEr.N DEPARTMENT, 

September S, 1861. 

Mt Dear Sir. : I send by another hand \yhat I ask you to 
consider in rHspuct to the subject of the note by your bpu- 
cial messenger. 

In this I desire to ask your attention to the posiMou of 
affairs in Kentucky. As the rebel troops, drivi'U out fi'om 
Missouri, had invaded Kentucky in considerable force, and 
by occupying Union City, Hickman, and Columbus, wero 
preparing to seize Paducah and attack Cairo, I judged it 
impossible, without losing important advantages, to defer 
any longer a forward movement. For this purpose I have 
drav/n from the Missouri siie a part of the force which liad 
been stationed at bird's Point, Cairo, and Cape GirurJeau, 
to Fort Holt and Paducah, of which places wo have t:iken 
possession. As the rebel forces outnumber ours, and the 
counties of Kentucky betwei-u the Mi.ssis«ippi and Tennes- 
see rivers, as well as tliose along the latter and the Cumber- 
land, are st(mgly secessionist, it becomes imperatively ne- 
cessary to have the co-operation of the loyal L'nion liirces 
under Generals Anderson and Nelson, as well as of those 
already "encanipe 1 opposite Louisville, under Colonel Itous- 
seau. I have reinforced, yesterday, Eaducah witli two reg- 
iments, and will continue to strengthen the position with 
men and artillery. As soon as General 8mitli. who com- 
mands there, is reinforced stiffidiently to enable him to 
spreail his forces, he will have to take and hold Mayfield 
and Lovelaceville, to bo in the rear and Hank of Columbus, 
and to occnpv Smithlaud, controUinj; in this way the mouths 
of lioth the Tennessee and the Cumberland rivers. At the 
snni(^ time Colonel Rousseau should bring his force, in- 
creased, if possible, by two Ohio ngiments, in boats to Hen- 
derson, and taking tlie U'-nderson and Nashville railroad, i 
occupy Ilopkinsville, while General Nelson should go with 
a force of 5,000, by railroad, to Louisville, and Iron) there 
to Bowling Green. As the population in all the c<^unties 
throuisti which the above rail roads pass are loyal, this move- 
ment could be made without delay or molestation to the 
troops. Meanwhile, General Grant would take possession of 
the entire Cairo and Fulton railroads, Piketon, New Mad 
rid, and the shore of the Mississippi opposite Hickman and 
Columbus. The foregoing disposition having bi-en effected, 
a combined attack will be made upon Columbus, and if suc- 
cessful in th;it, upon Hickman, while Rousseau ami Nelson 
will move in concert, by railroad, to Nashville, Tennessee, 
occupying Ihe State capital, and, with an adeqnate force, 
New i'rovidence. The conclusion of this movement would 
bi> a combined advance towanl Memphis, on the Mississippi, 
as well as I he :\Iemphisand Ohio railroad, and I trust tbo 
result would be a glorious one to the country. 



14 



In reply to a letter fiom f!en. Sherman, by the. hand of 
Juiijji^ \\ illliims, ill relatioa to he v^st iinportftnco of se- 
cnriniT posseision in !iclv«t;ce of the cuiutry lyiug between 
the Ohio, I'ennespuo, ;ind Missicsippi, I huve to-day suggest- 
ed the first part of thi- precodicg plan. By extend. ng my 
command to Indi.ina. Tennessee, and Kentucky, you would 
enable me to attempt the accomplishui'.nt of thi.s all-im- 
portint reuult : and inorJer to secure the secrecy nee .s- 
bary to iis sncco.';.'!, I fhnll not exteud the communication 
which I have made to Gen. Sherman, or repeat it to any 
one else. 

With high respect and regard, 

I am, Tery truly, yours. 

J. C. FKESIOXT. 

This was before the enemy had occupied them, 
and they could have been seized without blood. 
Nashville would have been iu our possession by 
the lirst of October, and the Union citizens of 
Tennessee have been saved from the hellish mur- 
ders inliictsd on them. The blood of the m.ur- 
dered of Tennessee, Kentucky, and Missouri, 
in battle, in the secret places of the mountains, 
in the prairies and forests, fields, and highways, 
will, like Abel's, cry to God from the ground 
for this double murder. The enemies of free- 
dom in the South rose against her friends 
there, and the enemies of freedom here rose up 
againsf their deliverer and destroyed him, cut- 
ting olf, for a long time, all F.id, whilfe the cav- 
erns of the mountains echo back the dying 
shrieks of murdered loyal citizens ; and still the 
combination in full conspiracy coldly calculates 
upon the flexibility of the American mind, 
hoping still to mould it for their further use. 
Fremont was removed because the slave power 
demanded it. 

FOUTIFICATIONS, ST. LOUIS. 

The question of the necessity for the fortifi- 
cation of any point is a military one, to be de- 
termined by the officer in command, at the time 
and place, in view of the surroundings ; aud 
whether St. Louis should have been fortified 
was properly the province of General Fre- 
~mont to decide; in fact, the committee do 
not of their judgment attempt to pass upon 
it, but introduce General Curtice as a witness 
of different opinion. I must confess that it 
was with some surprise I read in the report 
that General Curtice thought the fortifica- 
tions unnecessary. I perfectly recollect that 
in conversation with him at his house at 
the barracks, whf.re he was in command, on 
the day prior to General Fremont'* starting to 
JeBferson City and Tipton, en route for Spring- 
field and Price, he said to me, that the 
troops then at the barracks were raw, some 
of them unarmed, could not defend the city 
against the attack of an ordinary force, aad 
that the barracks should have been built 
in the Slate of Illinois, putting the Mississippi 
river between them and the enemy. It does 
seem to me that fortifications were as necessary 
as this precaution, particularly as troops are to 
defend against, and not to be defended by the 
enemy, St. Louis is a large city ; it was to 
Fremont what Washington is to McCIellan — 
his base of operation ; that while the Potomac 
river, a mile in width, forms a protection to 



this city, running as it does between it and 
the enemy's advance, preventing the egress 
and ingress of spies, St Louis is on the 
south side of the river, v/lth its approaches all 
exposed, and the river a barrier against rein- 
forcements from the loyal estates, as certainly 
as the Missouri river was to General Sturges, 
who was unable to aid Mulligan, though only the 
river between them, and the remainder of Gen- 
eral Stone's command when Baker fell. Yet 
not only General Scott and General McClellaa 
thought it necessary to forUfy Washington, but 
this Cougress at its special session, and this 
one, have voted directly for that purpose many 
hundred thousands of dollars. Is property in 
Washington, the lives of her people, or the 
cause of justice, or duty of her military oflScer 
to maintain it, more sacred or more binding 
than in St. Louis? 

The committee affirm that the soldiers should 
have built those fortifications. These were in 
all a heavy work. It was warm weather : the 
climate, as has been clearly proven, not conge- 
nial to the Northern soldier until acclimated. But 
the strongest reason was that the troops at St. 
Louis were received raw and generally unarmed. 
They were necessarily equipped and drilled as 
soon as possible aud thrown to the outposts. 
This was the continued and necessary practice 
at that point. No body of troops were retained af- 
ter being fully armed and equipped; aud, indeed, 
necessity sent many to outposts not well armed 
and drilled. The Governors of States who came 
up so nobly to the cause requested iu all cases 
that their troops be not thrown into active ser- 
vice without drill. Fremont's was not a besieg- / 
iug or a besieged army. He was in command 
only 100 days, in which time he raised his forces 
from 15,000 to 62,000, armiug, equipping, feed- 
ing, and clothing them, attended with the diffi- 
culties which I hp.ve already named, moving 
them to and fortifying points distant from St. 
Louis as foUovvs: Cape Girardeau, 120 miles; 
Irouton, 80 ; Bird's Point, 200 ; Jefierson City, 
125; Rolla,120; and Cairo, III., 200, and Pa- 
ducah, Kentucky, 230; besides moving forces 
over and quieting ail North and West Missouri, 
watching and repairing railroads through, and 
holding military occupation of, almost the entire 
State, moving near 40,000 men 290 miles by 
way of Tipton to Springfield, guarding the en- 
tire country, driving a victorious army before 
him, and giving peace and quiet to the ^ 
people except in the "south border, and would 
in a few days have cleared the State of enemies, I 
had he not been removed. If he had simply 
been stationed with an immense force to guard ^ 
the city of St. Louis, as has been the case at 
this city, he could have fortified it as he did ■ 
his outposts with his soldiers, and, too, without 
the aid of Congress. 

Again : General Fremont found the commerce , 
and labor of the city paralyzed ; and much want 
and suffering; a large number of the laboring , 
people of St. Louis thrown out of employ, dis- 



15 



satisfied with the Govemnjent, because taught 
bj those wealthy and traitorous scoundrels who 
had furaiahed thca-i labor, but now did not, 
that the Government was the cause of the war 
aud their suffering. The labor on the barracks 
and fortifications furniahed employ for several 
thousand hands at good waj^es, and by 
this expenditure the minds ot many men 
were disabused, apd St. Louis now presents 
the spectacle of poor patriots and wealthy trai- 
tors — the entire foreign population loyal. The 
feud between the German and Irish element 
when Fremont reached St. Louis was of a 
character approaching an outbreak. By the ex- 
penditure of this money the city was quieted. 
The fortifications were so built as to command 
both the city aud tlie approaches to it. including 
the river above and below it. The city is 
wealthy, and if it should fall into the hands of 
the enemy would furnish supplies to their 
entire army. Their's is a war of robbery ; 
ours of protection. Again : General Fremont 
needed all his forces, his purpose being, so soon 
as quiet was restored in the Southwest part of 
the State by the destruction of Price's army, 
which in a few days he would have effected, 
without returning with his army to St. Louis, 
to have met his combined forces at the river, 
and with a concerted movement of his Ken- 
tucky troops, with his gun-boats and mortar- 
boats and Missouri forces, to move down the 
river, leaving St. Louis in charge 'of troops 
enough to man her fortifications, it being his 
grand depot, the centre of travel and trade of 
the West, approached by seven railroads, three 
in Illinois and four in Missouri, as well as 
river line between those States, opening to his 
gun-boats and mortar-boats the Missourj, Ohio, 
Tennessee, Cumberland, and lower Mississippi 
rivers. Connected as it is by telegraph with the 
free .States and the Capital, he could keep up 
his lines of communicatiou for all purposes 
with the granaries of lUiaois, Indiana, Ohio, 
. and Iowa. The great free Northwest could 
pour her troops into his army in any need. 

Sir, the life, the spirit, the labor, the plan, 
and the success of this great Western campaign, 
is General John C. Fremont's. Hiitory and the 
honest judgment of mankind will give it to him, 
aijd he will yet have the reward of his labor, 
combinations to the contrary notwithstanding. 

As a question of economy, the fortifica- 
tion of St. Louis v.'as entirely tenable. That 
city has a population of 100,000; her best 
fighting loyal element was already in our lines, 
away I'rom their homes. They knew the dan- 
ger, because compelled to quell rebellion at 
their own door-steps. With their homes for- 
tified, those troops felt that the Government 
was in earnest, and cared for them ; a feeling 
uot 60 prevalent with many three months' men 
if we may believe General Lyon, who said they 
were dispirited and felt they were neglected. 
Confidence is all and all to fighting men. 
There is no- man who loves his country btlt who 



loves his family; and he v/ho' knows that hia 
famihy is in danger of these murderous slave- 
drivers, v/hose course so far is one of robbery 
and slaughter, treads with unsteady step the 
path which leads from home ; but when he feels 
himself in danger for the safety of those ob- 
jects of his hope and atl'ection, he counts no 
odds, and proudly meets his fo?s. 

But to hold a city of the size of St. Louis 
without fortification, against forces which could 
in the rear of an advancing army rise and 
seize its stores or burn the city, it would re- 
quire fully ten thousand well armed troops, 
with costs not varying materially from the fol- 
lowing : 
10,000 mcu at wages 43 cents per day S4,300 

" " at exponsu ^5 " •' " 2,500 

500 horses, for teams aud artillery, 20 cents per day 125 

7,925 

In addition, it will require 100 wagons and 
harness for horses, with wear and tear in all, 
equaling $8,000 per day. 

The fortifications will require less than half 
that number of men, wagons, horses, and arms. 

So that the expense of $4,000 per day, with 
a loss of 5,000 men, 50 wagons, 250 horses, and 
artillery for field servicp, with arms for all, can 
be saved by the fortifications, which would be 
a saving, in fifty days, of their entire cost at 
the price they were built, not counting the 
service in the field of the spare forces. Now 
when quiet is restored it is said they were not 
needed. It is easy to say that a successful pre- 
caution was not necessary. 

But what made St Louis safe ? Was it those 
committees which have followed General Fte- 
mont so perseveringly at such respectful dis- 
tances ? Was it the policy which has suffered 
the Potomac blockaded, both above and below 
the Capital — the Baltimore and Ohio railroad 
and canal destroyed — three out of four of the 
approaches to the city of Washingt/)n cut off — 
which surrenders the Harper's Ferry manufac- 
tory of arms and ar.-ieual, with machinery, to the 
enemy — an army mur^lered at Ball's Biuff, in 
sight of their brave aud anxious friends, with- 
out means of relief — the Capital with 200,000 
men beleaguered for six months — was it these ? 
No I no! It was a brave and active army, im- 
bued with the same spirit of freedom which 
moved him who organized it. 

But in addition to the deprivations against 
which Lyon and Fremont had to contend, of 
which I have spoken, troops and arms were 
called from that endangered and needy depart- 
partment, at times, too, when they were most 
required ; compelling General Lyon, at one 
time, to the unwelcome necessity cf refusing to 
obey the orders of the Government, and with- 
holding troops -from superior demand. And as 
testimony to prove what I have said, I intro- 
duce aud incorporate in my remafks letters and 
telegrams, and extracts of each from the cor- 
respondence of Generals Lyon and Fremont; 
and for the further purpose of dispelling the 



16 



unjust aspersiorTB, so industriously circulated 
against Fremont, charging hiin with a neglect 
ot duty to Geueral Lyon in not reinforcing him 
prior to the battle oC Wilson's Creek, showing 
by the telegrams of General McClelland and 
the President their opinions of the importance 
of holding Cairo and Northeast Missouri, and 
the necessity of saving this region, which lay 
in proximity to the river and State of Kentucky, 
•which would, in the hands of the enemy, di- 
rectly endanger the city of St. Louis and entire 
Slate of Missouri. 

These telegrams and official writings will 
show the following statt of facts : 

That General Fremont took charge of his 
command July 25, 18G1. 

That it was imperatively necessary to rein- 
force Cairo. 

That the enemy's forces far exceeded any 
possible numbers Fremont could bring to bear. 

That your troops were not fed, paid, or 
clothed, by the Government, while Lyon was in 
command. 

That Geueral Lyon made urgent requests 
for them. 

That drafts were made on him for troops un- 
til he finally refused to obey the order. 

That General Fremont reinforced Cairo on 
the 2d of August, which was as soon as possi- 
ble. 

That the department was destitute of money 
or supplies. 

That Government would not pay attention to 
his urgent requests more than it did Lyon's. 

That General Fremont ordered troops to 
General Lyon, August 3d, seven days prior to 
the fight at Wilson's Creek, which was Au- 
gust 10. 

That General Lyon notified Fremont that, in 
case of failure to reinforce him, he would re- 
tire. 

That a failure to reinforce Cairo would have 
lost the State, with St. Louis, and not have saved 
Lyon, because he would have been surrounded. 

That there was not armed troops enough to 
reinforce both. 

IIeajiquabters Department of Omo, 
CiiiCTuniiti, .Tuno 18. 
Have received order placing Mipsoxiri under my com- 
maud. Will leave for St. Louis tomorrow. If more troops 
are needed telegraph mo details of caso. 

a. B. McCLELLAN, Major Gen. 
Chester IIarbinq, jr., AsB"t A'.!j't General. 

13ooNEViii,E. Mo., .Tuly 2, 18G1. 
Dear Colonel t I hope to move to morrow, .-'.nd think it 
more important jnst now to go to Spriiit;tield. My force 
in moving from here will bo about 2,400 men Major 
Sturgis will have about 2.200 men, and you know what 
force has kouc to Springfield from St. JiOnis, so that you 
Res what an amount of provi.'sion.s wo sh.all want suppi el 
at that point ; plca.so attend to us us effectually as possible 
Our lino Bhou'd'be kept open by all meiine. I must be 
governed by circumitances at Springfiidd. Yon will of 
course have due atti.ntiou to th« Sontho.ist. Tlie State. 
Journul is outrafteous and must be stopped ; you will take 
siuli measures as you tliiak best to (■fTeol this. Our cau«e 
is sulTerinpfrr m too much indulgence, and you must so ad- 
Tise our friends in St. Louis. Ool. Stevenson must have 
pretty btroni; garrisons at the points ho occupies on the 
river, and lie mnst have support from other States as occa- 
sion seems to reiniire. Col. Curtis is, I suppose, en the 



Ilsiin'bal and St. Josenh rood; rigorous moa^urci should 
bo shown the disorderly in that region. Our operations 
tro becoming cxtenuve, aiidourstatl officers Ujust kutp up 
witli our iiiini gencies. Wc need here a regular Quarter- 
master and Co:i:missiry. Cannot something be done for 
us from Washington 1 Vours truly, 

N. LYON, Commanding. 

Col. Hardino, St. Louis Arseral. 

P. S. I cannot spa'e more than 300 st.and of arms for 
Home Guards at .Klfer.sjn. 1 sha'l not be able to supply 
other portions of the ctate with the same proportion. 

N. L. 

U£ADQUARTEn.?DBPAr.T>rENT OlIIO, 

liuckhannan, .luly 5, 18C1. 
Communicate freely with I'rcntiss. If ho does not need 
Wyman you cau take him. leUgraph to G' n. Pcpe, at Al- 
ton, to give you a regiment, and to liurlbut, at Quiilcy, to 
giV' you atiotlier. 

Do not lose sight of imoortance of Cairo, and of its opera- 
tions in Southeast ra Missouri. Write to me fully. 

G. B. McCLliILLAN. Major Gen. U. S. A. 
To Chester IlAKOixa, Assist. Adj. Gen. 

IIeadquarteus'Soutuwest Expebitiox, 
Sljringflfld, Mo., July IG, 1801. 

Sir: I arrived at this place early this ovenint, two or 
tbroe hours in advance of my ti-nops, who are ""ncamp-d a 
f'W m'les back. I h.ive n\iov.t 5,000 men to beprjvidul 
for, and have expected to find stores here, as I have or J* red. 
The failure of sloros reaching here seems likely tu <»ius5 
.s?rious pmbarrammeiit, which must b' aggravated by cm- 
tmuvd delay, and in i^roportion to the time I am forced t) 
wait for supplies. * * * * * i shall cn- 
d' avor to take every duo precaution to meet existing t mer- 
gences, and hnpp to bo able to sustain the cause of the 
Government in this part of the State. But there mu»t t«e 
no 1"S"; of time in turniiliing me the reeo'ircs I have htrein 
mentioned. I have lost in reaching tliis plnce al'out four 
days time, bj' the hijtli waters in Grand and Osaie rivers, 
which made it nccyssary to f«rry them. The same dilli- 
culty prevented Sturgi-? from co-operating with Sigd in 
time to afford any aid. PI' ase telegraph to McU.eran and 
to Washington anything in this letto'- you deem of import- 
ance to these'lleadquarters. Shots, shirts, t loufes, ic, arj 
much wanted, and I would have you furuish them, if po.-ai- 
b'e, in considerable quantit'es. Yours truly, 

N. LYON, B ig. Gel. Commanding. 

Col. Chester Harmnu, St. Louis Arsenal. 

St. Louis Arsenal, July 15, 1S61, 
By tclegrnph from Chicago, Ju'y 15, 1861. 
Ilavo dispatched condition of aff drs to Gen. Fremont, 
and asked authority to take the field in N. Missouri with 
live more regiments. Expect answer to-ni^ht. Will go 
down and couf !r with you as soon us I hear. IIow did you 
succeed with Harris t 

JOHN POPE, Brigadier Qocer.al. 
To Chester U.i.RDixG, Jt. 

IlEADtJUARTERS AEJIT OF THE WEST. 

Spriughcld, (Mo.,) July !•% 1861. 
Colonel : Gen. Lyon is now licro with about 7,003 men ; 
of these fully one-half are three months' volunteers, who.ie 
term of service has neatly expired — the latest expiring on 
the 1-lth of August. Gov. Jackson is concentrating his 
luroos in the soiiih western part of the State, and is receiving 
large reinforcements from Arkansas, Tennessee, Louisiana, 
and Texas. His cft'ictive force will soon bo certainly not 
less than 30,000 men — proLably much larger. All idea of 
any further advance movement, or of even maintaining eur 
present position, must soon bo abandoned, unless thi' Gov- 
ernment furnish uspromptly with large rein Ibrcemenl 8 and 
supplies. Our troops arc badiy clothed, poorly fed, and ini- 
perlectly supplied with tents; none of tliiin have yet boon 
paid, and the three montlis' volunteers have becoiii" dis- 
heartened to such extent that very few of them are willing • 
to renew their enlistment. The blank pay rolls are not 
here, and IIk! long time required to get them here, lill them 
up. send them to Washington, have the payment onlered, 
and the Paymaster reach us, loaves us no hope that our 
troojis can be paid lor five or six weeks to como. Uiulir 
these circumstances, there remains no other course but to 
urgently press upon the attention of the Government Iho 
abi^olute neei'ssity of sending us lr<'sh troop's at once, with 
amide supplies for them andforthoye nowhere. At least 
10.000 men should bo sent, and that ininnptly. Y'ou will 
send the enclosed despatch by telegrajih to Gen. McClellan, 
and also to the War Department, antl forward by mail a 
copy of this lettor. Lose no time in fitting for tlie field the 
three years' volunteers now at the Arsenal, and send them 



17 



here as soon as possible. Call for Ool. McNeil's regiment of 
Home Guards to garrison at the Arsenal, and allow him to 
orgauize, if for the regular three j'ears' service, if he desires 
to do so. It is believed that the remaining Home Guards 
will bo sufficient for the city. Should it bo necessary, their 
term of service can be renewed, for a short period, for the 
purpose of a city garrison. Tha General is not aware whe- 
ther Col. Smith's re{:iment has yet taken the field ; if not, 
he presumes that both his and Col. Bland's regiments may 
bo sent liere witliout delay. You may doubtless leave the 
care of the soutlieast part of the btate to Gen. I'rentiss. 
Should ht. fiOuis be in danger from that direction, troops 
could easily be called from Illinois and Indiana for its de- 
fence ; moreovi^r, a force moving on St. Louis from the 
South would be expnsed to attack in rear from Cairo. 
Hence there seems little or no danger from that direction. 
Unless we are .'Speedily reinforced here, we will soon lose all 
we have gained, i ur tronps have made long marches, done 
much effective service, and suffered no small privations. 
They, hiwe received no pay nor clothing from the Gfovern- 
uient. and the small stock- furnished by private contribu- 
tion is now exhausted ; so that, unless the Government 
gives us relief speedily, our thus far successful campaign 
will prove a failure. 

I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
J. M. SCIIOFIKLD, 
Captain lltli infantry. Acting Adjt. General. 

To Col. Che ter U.\r.MNO, 

Adjutant General of Missouri Volunteers, 

St. Louis Arsenal, Missouri. 

P. S. Cannot Col. Curtis's regiment be spared from St. 
■Toseph, and, if so, send it forward. 

N. LYOM, Commanding. 

He.uxjuaktErs Ripley County Battalion, 
Camp Burrows, July 16, 1861. 
Dear Sir; If there is any way to communicate with the 
Governor, through any person in St. Louis, please let me 
know it. I am advancing and Gen. Yell will follow me in 
a few days, with 5.000 men. IIo will take position betwcn 
RoUa atid Ironton, and act as circumHtances dictate. 
Gen. Watkins will move up, sustained by Gen Pillow, and 
if proper energy is exercised we cm drive the oiiemy north 
of the Misi^ouri and "into St. Louis in thirty days. You 
will picas" let me hear from you, verbally or not, through 
the p('r.";on through wliom this passes ; and please send 
The Daily Jourml for a short time to Doniphan, as it will 
be sent to me by my couriers! 
Yours respectfully, 

Col. k. .TEFF THOMPSON, 

Commanding Ripley Co. Batt. 
Joseph Tucker, Esq., Editor The. State Journal, St. Louis. 

Dear Miss : I have not heard from you yet, but 

make free to trust this to your care. 

■^ Sprixqfield, Mo., July 17, 1S61. 

Sir: I inclose you a copy of a lettcj to Col. Townspnd 
on the subject of an order from Gen. Scott, which calls fnr 
five companies of tUf "id Infantry to be withdrawn from 
the West and sent to Washington. A previous order with- 
draws the mountfld troops, as I am informed, and were it 
not that some of them were en route to this place they 
would now bo in Washington. This order carried out. 
would not now leave at Fort Leavenworth a single com- 
pany. I have companies IS and E 2d Infantry now under 
orders for Wa.s!iincton. ami if all these troops leave me I 
can do noth-iig, a-d must retire in the abS' nee of other 
troops to supply their jjlaces. In fact, I am badly enough 
off at the be.st, and must utterly fail if my regulars all go 
At Washington troops f r m all the Northern, Middle, and 
Eastern States aro available for the support of the army 
in Virginia and more arc understood to l)e already there 
than aro wanted, and it seems strange that so many tro ps 
must go on from the West and strip us of the means of de- 
fence; but if it is the ii;tention to give up tho West let it 
bo so — it can only be the victim of imbecility or mal'ce 
Scott will cripple us if ho can. Cannot you stir up this 
matter and secure tis relief? See Fscmont if ho h.as ar- 
rived. Tlie want of sujiplies has crippled me so that I 
cannot move, and I do not know when I can. Everything 
seems to coinbi'ie against me at this point. Stir up Blair. 
Yours, trulv, 

N. LYON, Commanding. 
Col. H.4RDiNrx, St. Louis Arsenal, Mo. 

By Telegraph from Chicago, dated 17th, 

Received July 17, 1861. 
We need Bpecially, to fit out one or two regiments of cav- 



alry, sabres and revolvers. There are absolutely none in 
this part of the country. 

JOHN POPE. 
Brigadier General. 
To Maj. Gen. Fremont, V. S. A., New York. 

HEADQUARTEnS ARMY OF WfgT, 

• Springfield, .Mo., .July 17, 1861. 

Sir; I have the honor to acknowledxe the receipt of 
special order No. 11'2, from Head quarters, under date of 
.luly 5, directing the removal from the Department of the 
West of companies B C, P, G, and II, 2d Infantry, ani of 
Captain Sweeny, now acting Bngader General by election 
of volunteers. The communication reached me yesterday 
at this p ace. 

I have been drawn to this point by the move'^iient.i of 
the rebel forces in this State, and have accumulated such 
troops as I could make availabb\ including those in Kan- 
sas. My aggregate is betwi en 7.00 i and 8,'XO men, more 
than half of whom are three-months' volunteers some of 
whose term of enlistment has yiit ex: ired; others will 
claim a discharge within a week or two. and thrt dissolution 
of my forces from this necessity, already comm' need, will 
leav« me less than 4,000 men. includ ng com'anies \i and 
E, 2d infantry, now with me. In my immedi.Tto vicinity 
it is currently reported there are .^0,' Ue ti oo|js and upward, 
whose number is constantly augmenting, and who are dil- 
igently . accumulating arms an 1 stores. They are making 
Irequent lawless and hosrile demonstrations and threaten 
ice with attack. The evils consequant upon the withdrawal 
of any portion of nfy force will be apparent ; loyal citizens 
will be unprotected, repressed treason will assume alarm- 
ing bolfiuess, and po.ssible defeat of my troops in battle will 
peril the continued ascc-udciicv of the Federl power itself, 
not only in tl e Stxte, but m the whole West. If the inter- 
ests of tho Government are to be snsti.iucd here, and ja 
lact in the whole valley Of the Mississippi large bodies of 
trooj's should be sent forward to tlii Stat'-, instead of being 
withdrawn from it, till by conccutiation there may be abil- 
ity to overpower any force that can be gatlu red in the West 
to act ag.aiost the Government. Troojis \ roperly belonging 
to the valley of the Missis-ijipi from W sconsin. Michigan, 
Indiana, and Ohio, have already <'ceu wi.hdrawn to th9 
East. The moral effect of the liresenee of the lew regulars 
in my command is doubtless th>; main cossi lerati.m that 
holds the enemy in check, and wiib them I may be able to 
retain what has already been achieved until I am strength- 
ened ; but any diminution will be imminently hazardous. 

The volunteers with me have y< t had no pay for their 
servites, and their duties have b en arduous. Their cloth- 
ing has become dilapidated, and, ai a body, they are dis- 
pirited. But for these facts they.wou'd probably nearly all 
have re-eulibtel. I have no regular officers of the Pay De- 
partment, nor the Commissary and Quartermaster; the 
affairs ol both the last are consequently in iifft^rent'y ad- 
ministered, from want of experience. Nothing but the im- 
mense interests at stake cnuUl have ever iuduc d me to un- 
dertake the great werk in which I am eng iged, un ler such 
discouraging circumstances. In this state of alia' rs pre- 
sumed to have been unknown when the order wa.s issued, 
I have felt justified in delaying its execution for further in- 
struction, so far as the companies with me are concerned. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

N. LYON, 
Brigadier Gcjieral, Commanding. 
To Lieut. Col. Townsend, Assistant Adjutant General, &c. 

St. LocLS, July 19, 1861. 

It was th» design to oc;upy Southwest .Miss u' i, cutting 
off all a-ipro iches from Ark.ant-as by way of I'l cah.intas, 
to occipy Pop'ar Bluffs, Bloomfield, Gr-eii ille, jind the 
line ( f tie Cairo and Fu ton rai.roa i — accoi-dingly onorogi- 
m lit a at Ircuton, r ady to advatc wh n rtinforced. 
Gran; wa-i und r orders, but his orders wer countcrmand- 
e 1. Marsh is at Cape G rardeau. i'structed to k ■( p open 
c mmuu cation witii Bloomfield. where Gra t was to be. 
Gen. I'r^iiti.ss has e':ht re.::me'its at Cairo, and coild sparo 
five eft' em to po into that country. If we once )o e pos- 
session of th.' swamps ot tlr t region a large armv will bo 
required to clear tjtm, whi e it w cet possession fiist and 
h"ld the cans wav a sm d er for o wi'l oo. Q u McClellf n 
t legrapho 1 that ho lad authentic iiit llig'nc^ of a largo 
army gathering at Poc hontas. accord'Ug with what I have 
advied fir weeks. Kspecting jou here ''a ly I have not 
t 'e^'raph d btf re; but i' you do not cmi > at one? will 
you take into considerati n the impor.auco to Cairo that 
the hou.heast should be held by us? 

CHESTER HARDING. Jr.. 

Assistant Adjutant Geneial. 

To Major Q;neral Fremont. 



18 



St. Louis Arsenal, July 20, 1861. 
By telfgrapU from Cincinnati, July 20, 1861. 
In case of attack oa Ciiiro have uono !'ut Illinois troors 
to leiuforce, and only 11,000 arms in lUiuoia. Will d rect 
two regiments t J I e re ajy at Ciujcyville, but you will only 
use thtm for d'fi'uce of St. Louis, and in casi of absolute 
ntcess ty. Telcurapli me from lirao to time. 

' G. B. McCLELLAN, 

Major General U. S. A. 
To Chestee Harding, jr., Assist. Ae'j. General. 

£t. Louis Ahsenal, July 21, 1861. 

« * , * * * * * * * * 

A week since Gen. McC!ellan tdegrapliei that he had the 
same difiiiite infunnation of troops crossing from Tennessee 
and comirg up from all parts of Arkanfas to I'ocah ntas, 
■which I had learfd frcmuur scciit-jand tpies (one of thtm 
a pUot ou a Mcmnhis b -at wliich had conveyed some of the 
troops over.) and ha I Hsut to him. 

Now, in the Southeast we stand thus: Two regiments, 
not in communiiatiou with each other ; no artillery, a few 
Home Guard-, against what ti'ey expect to be 20,000 men 
(regular troops, w ell provided,) who design marching upon 
bt. Louis. 

1 have explained all this to Gen. Fremont, who will be 
here Tuesday, and who (as dois Gen. Pope) understands 
the throatentd movement, and will take vigorous measures 
to meet it. 

***** -1^ * * * * 

At hon;e our friends are ahirmed, and the city U uneasy. 
I rtceive about five deputations per diem, warning me tiiat 
I ought not to seijd away so mauy troops (2,200 U. S K. G. 
left.) aud semttimes hinting that 1 will be overhauled by 
higher powers for doiui so. The only danger is in case of 
an adTance from Arkansas. But the first dmoustration 
will result in cleiiiing St. Louis o its secession element. 
CUESTEU UAUDING, 

Assistant Adjutant General. 

To Brig. Gen. Ltor. 

St. Lodis Arsenal, July 23, 1861. 
By telegraph from Cairo, 23d, 1861. 
Have but eight (S) regiments here. Six (6) of them are 
three (S) months men. Their time expires tliis week— are 
reorganizing now. I have neither tents nor wagons, and 
must hold Cairo and Bird"s Point. The latter is threatened. 
I have but two guns equipped for moving. Thus you see I 
cannot comply with request. Again, news of this morning 
changes policy of rebels in Kentucky. They are organizing 
opposite. Waikins is encamped with 2,000 seven miles from 
Bloomfield. He has no cannon, and poorly armed. This 
may be tho iorce you have heard from. 

B. M. PRENTISS, Brig. Gen. 
To Chester IIardixg. 

WASni^GTON, July 26, 1861. 
De.ar General : I have two tclpRrams from you, but find 
it impossible now to get any attention to Missouri or West- 
ern matters from the authorities Iicre. You will have to 
do the best you can, and take all needful responsibility to 
defend and protect the people over whom you are specially 
set. » » * * * M= * 

Yours, truly, and in haste, 

M. BLAIE. 

Springfield, (Mo.,) July 27, 1861. 

Dear Sir; I have your notes about matters in St. Louis, 
Ac, and your procniing seems tu me perfectly corrcrt. 
Now that matters North .seem more quiet, cannot you man 
age to get a few regiments this way '! I am in the deepest 
concern on this suhject, atid you must urge this matter 
upon Frtmout, as of vital importance. Thcsetlireo months' 
volunteers would re-enlist if they could be paid, but they 
are now dissatisfied, and if troops do not replace them, all 
that is gained may be lost. I have not been able to move 
for want of supplies, aud this delay will exhaust the term 
of the three months' men. Cannot something bo done to 
have our men ami officers paid as well as our purchases 
paid fjr. If the Government cannot give due attention to 
the West, her interests must have a corresponding dispar: 
atrement. Yours, trulv, 

*■ N. LYOX, 

Brigadier General Commanding. 

To Colonel C, HAnmNO, 

St. Louis .\rsenal, Missouri. 

[Memorandum by Col, Pheli>8, from Gen. Lton, to Gen. 
Fr.EMo.N'T, July 2".] 
Sec Gen. Fremont about troops and stores for the i)lace. 
Our men have not been paid, and are rather dispirited ; 



they are badly off for clothing, and the want of shoes unfits 
them for marching. Some staff oflicers are badly needed, 
and the interest of the Government sntTers for the want of 
them. The time of the three months' volunteers is nearly 
out, and, ou returning home, as most of them are disposed 
to, my command will bo reduced too low for effective oper.v 
tions. Troojis must at once be forwarded to Bupply their 
place. The safety of tho State is hazarded ; orders from 
Ucn. Scott strip the entire West of regular forces, and in- 
crea.«e the chances of sacrificing it. The public press U full 
of reports that troops from other States are moving toward 
the northern border of Arkansas for the purpose of invad- 
ing Missouri. 

To General FREMONT. 

St. Loots, July 28, 1861. 
I ordered the arms shipped to New York, to my order, 
expecting to forward, on the arrival, to my department. 
I trust you will confirm this iiispositi<in of them. Tho 
rebels are advancing in force from tho South tipon these 
lines. We luwe plenty of men, but absolutely no arms, 
and the condition of the State critical. 

J. C. FREMONT, Maj. Gen. Com'g. 
To lion. W. n, Seward, Washington. 

Cairo, July 28, 1861, (Rec'd St. Lnuis, July 29. 1801.) 
On yesterday 3,000 rebels, west of Bird's Point 40 miles; 
3u0 at Madrid, and three regiments from Union City or- 
dered there; also troops from Randolph and Corinth T'le 
number of organized rebels within 5.) miles of me will ex- 
cce.l 12,000 — that is including Itaudotph troops ordered, 
and not including several companies oiiposite in Ken- 

B. M. PRENTISS, Brig. Gen. 
To Maj. Gen. Fremont. 

St. Louis, July 29, 1861. 

The agent of Adams' Express Company here has offered 
to bring me by passenger train any arms directed to me. 
Send everything you have for me by passenger trains, for 
which the Express Company will provide. Your letter of 
24th received. There were no arms at the Arsenal here to 
meet the order given for the 5,000. We must have arms — 
any arms, no matter what. 

J. C. FREMONT, Maj. Gen, Com'g Ws D. 

To Maj. Hagner, Fifth Av. Hotel, New York. 

[Un fficial.] 
He-Adqcaeters Western Dep.irtment, 

St. Louis, July 30, 1S61. 

Mt Dear Sir : You were kind enough to say that as oc- 
casion of sufficient gravity arose I might send you a pri- 
vat ■ n to, 

I have found this command in disorder, nearly every 
county in an insurroct'orjary condition,, "ind the enemy ad- 
vane n ■ in fnce by diHerent ji ints of the f^outhern fron- 
tier. Within a circle ol 50 miles around General Prentiss, 
there are about 12.009 of the Confederate forces, and 5,000 
Tinne^seans and Arkansas men^ umier Hardee, well armed 
with rilles, are advancing upon ironton. Of these, 2,000 
are cavalry, which yesterday moruing were within twenty- 
lour hours marcu of Ironton. Colonel Rland. who had been 
scdnci d from this post, ie fa. ling back upon it. I have al- 
ready reinl'oiced it with one regiment, s iit on another this 
morning, aud lortitied it, I am holding the lailroad to 
Irouion and that to RoUa, so 8:\ uring our connecliouB with 
the S uth. Other measures, which 1 am taking, I will not 
trust to a letter, and 1 write this only to inform you as to 
our truj con iitlon, and to say that if 1 can obtai i the ma- 
terial ai ' I am expecting you may feel secure that the CLe 
my will be driven out and the fetato r duced to order. I 
havi ord red General Po;ebackt.) NorthMissouri, of which 
he is now in command. 1 am sorely pre,ssed for want of 
arms 1 Imvo arranged with Ailams' Exi ri'ss Company to 
bring me everything with speed and will buy arms to-day 
i 1 New York. Our troops have not been paid, and some 
regiments are in a state oi mutiny, and the men whoso term 
otservice is expired generally refus to enlist. 1 lost a fine 
regiment la,>it night from InaMlity t > pay tuem a portion 
of the money due. This regiment had been intended to 
move on a critical post last night. The Treason. r ol the 
Unite ! t)la:es has here $3U0,0uu entire y unappropriated, 1 
applie I to him yesterday for $i00 00 ' for my Paymaster, 
General Andn vvs, but was refused. Wo have not an hour 
for de.ay. There are three courses o]ieti to me. One, to let 
t e enemy poss ss himself of son:o of the stronpi bt points 
in he S atr, and threaten .'■t, l.ouis, whith is insurrection- 
ary. Second, to force a loan Ir m seces ion banks here. 
Tliird. to use the mouoy I'hngng to tho- Go>ernment, 
Which is in the Treasury here. 01 course I will neither 



19 



lose the State nor permit the enemy a foot of advantago. I 
have infused energy and activity into the department, and 
there is a thorough good spirit in officers and men. This 
morning I will order tlio Treasurer to deliver the money in 
his possession to Ot neval Andrews, and will fend a force to 
the Treasury to take the money, and will direct such pay- 
ments as the exigency requires. I will hazard everything 
for the defence of the department. You have confided to 
me and I trust to you for support. 
With respect and regard, I am, yours truly, 

J. C. FREMONT, 
Major General, Commanding. 
To The President of the United States. 

By telearaph from Cairo, Aug. 1, 1861. 
The following information just rcc ived is, I b licve, re- 
liable. Gen. I'illow was at New Mad iJ on the morning of 
the 31st, with 11,000 troops well-armed and well-drilled; 
two regiments of cavalry ! p'.enuidly equipped ; one battery 
of flying artillery, 10 pounders, and ten guns manr-ed and 
officerid by foreigners; several mountain howitz-s and 
other artillery, amoun; ing in all to 100. 9,000 m' ro moving 
to reinforce, tie has pr. mised Gov. Jackson to place "20,- 
000 men in Mi souii at once. I ha re a copy of his procla- 
mation ahd also one of his \\ ritten passes. 

C.C. MARSH, 
Col. Commanding Camp Fremont. 
To Major Qeu. Fremont, St. Louis. 

Upon this day, August 1, Gen. Fremont went 
in person to reinforce Cairo, with what troops 
he could gLither, and with as much display as 
possible, in order to increase the apparent size 
of his small force. 

War Department, 
Washington, Aug 2, 1861. 
Since ordering the two batteries for you yesterday, it ap- 
pears one company has no guns and the other is in Western 
Virginia; neither can be withdrawn. The order is • oun- 
termaudod WINFIELD SCOTT. 

To Gen. Fremont. 

[Telegram.] 
Headquarters, "City olAlton," Cairo, Aug. 3, 1881. 
Order Colonel .1. D. Stevenson's regiment to Holla forth- 
with. Quartermaster's and Commissary's stores to follow. 
Use utmost despatch. 

J. C. FREMONT, 
Major General, Commanding. 
Captain J. C. Kelton, Assistant Adjutant General. 

[Telegram.] 
nEADQUARTERS, " City of Alton," Cairo, Aug. 3, 1S61. 
Tho Comman lingGeneral directs that Montgomery's lorce 
join General Lyon's command at Springfield, Missouri, im- 
mediately. Sead him tuis order bv express. 

JOilNC. KELTON, 
Assistant Adjutant tienoral. 
Captain W. E. Prince, Commanding Fort Leavenworth. 

Cairo, August 4, 1861. 
Information lait night of a large force at Bloomfiel 1, re- 
ported from eight (8) to ten thousand (10 000 ;) itGarrignn 
Mil!s, on I ic et ro.d, five hundred (500 ;) at Castor Mills, 
five hundred (500;) at Strong s iVil s on Casting river, five 
hvinrtred (COO:) about five miles above ."^tiong s Mi Is they 
are lierding b>ef cattle. Ou It.t and 2d August they had 
orders to cook four days rations of bread. 

C. C. MARSH, 
Coi. 20th 111. Vol. Coi'imanding. 
To Major General J. C. Fremont. 

St. Locis, August 4, 1861. 
Tpurs of (he 4th received to day. i-"ce dr-pat' h t" Presi- 
dent. I h've ma e a loan fiom (he bauks here. Send 
moiioy. It is a moment for the Government to put forth 
its pjwcr. 

J. C. FREMONT, 
Major G tieral Cummanding. 
Hon. MoNTGOMERT Blair, Wasuirgton city. 

Cape Girardeau, Aug. 4, 11 a. m.. 
Via Jonesborough. (received St. Louis, 5th.) 
Thomson is advancing within 16 miles of me. Am forti- 
fying the bill in rear o"f Mills's. Send mo re-enforcements 
and ammuuition. Express waiting for reply. 

C 0. .MAKSII, Col. 20th 111. Vol., Com'g. 
To Maj. Gen. Fremont. 



Capb Gieabdeau, 9 p. m., Aug 5, 

Via Jonesborriugh. 
Enemy close on me, over 5,000 strong. Will be attacked 
before morning; send me aid. 

C. C. MARSH, CoL 
To Maj. Gen. Fremont. 

Cairo, August 5. 1861. 
The following dispatch was just received : "CapeGirar 
deau, Aug. 4, 11 p. m. — Gen. Prentiss, enemy advancing 
Within 16 miles of me; help me if you can. 

(Signed) C. C. Marsh." 

B. M. PRENTISS, Brig. Gen. 
To Maj. Gen. Feemont. 

By telegraph from the Arsenal, ,A.ug. 5, 1861. 
There are now in tho Arsenal 2,933 men, besides Smith's 
630 at the barracks. Smith's and Color's men don't know 
tho facings and marchings. Ought not Color to go to the 
barracks, and should not the officers of the 13th regulars 
be instructed to drill both regiments ? 

CHESTER HARDING, Jr. 
To Gen. Fremont, St. Louis. 

Headquarters Western Department, 

St. Louis, Aug 5,1861. 

1. The commanding officer directs that Col. Montgomery's 
force joins 'ien. Lyon's command, at Spiiugfleld, Mo., im- 
mediately. 

2. Tho force under Qol. Dodge, at Council Bluff, is ordered 
to St. Joseph forthwith. On its arrival at that point, tho ■ 
commanding officer of the regiment will report to these 
Headquarters for orders. 

J. C. KELTON. A. A. 6. 
Forward these orders with the utmost dispatch. 

J. C. KELTON, A. A. G. 
To Capt. Prince, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. 

By telegraph from Washington, 

August 5, 1861. 
Tho President desires to know briefly the situation of af- 
fairs in the region of Cairo. Please answer. 

JOHN G. NICHOLAY, Private S«;. 
To Maj. Gen. Fremont. 

Headquarters Western Department, 

St. Louis, Aug., 6, 1861. 
I re-enforce you this morning with a h<'«vy battery ct 
24's and one regiment. Gen. Prentiss re-enforces you from 
below. Keep me posted. 

J. C. FREMONT, 

Maj. Gen. Com'g. 
To Col. C. C. Marsh, Cape Girardeau. 

Washington, Aug. 6, 1801. 

All the troops are ordered out of New Mexico. The first 
detachment will leave about the 15th. Volunteers received 
in New Mexico are reported unreliable in defending the 
largo amount of United States property there. Th se stores 
cannot be moved East. There is danger of their falling 
into tho hands of tho Texans. Nevertiieless, the regulars 
must come away as ordered. At least two regiments of 
volunteers, say from Kansas, should be sent without delay 
to New MexicOv with a competent officer for the immediate 
conimand of all the troops there. Confer with the Gov- 
ernor of Kansas, and arrange for tho salety of New Mexico 
as soon as possible. . 

WINFIELD SCOXT. 

To Maj. Gen. Fremont. 

Headquarters Western Department, 

St Louis, Aug. 6, 18C1. 
Colonel : I send by special engine Mr. Ed. H. Ca-tle, f.>r 
any information you may have of Geni ral Lyon's position. 
Mr. Castle will inform you of what progr. ss Colonel Steven- 
son has made, who, with his regiment, is on his way to 
General Lyon's camp. Communicats to me through .Mr. 
C, who is instructed to return witn any information you 
may have — all of which you may safely intrust to him. 

Inclosed letters to bo forwarded as immediately as possi- 
ble to General Lyon. 

J. C. FREMONT, 
Major General, CommanJing. 
To Colonel Wtman, RoUa, 

Arsenal Aug. C, 1801, (by telegraph from Cairo.) 

I have just ordere.l fourcomnanies withtwo 'ix-jnundors 

on board steamer, to send. They are n < doubt fighting 

now. See General. If not couutermandid. will hurry them 

forward. Marsh has called for help again. Enemy 5,000, 



20 



ftnd over. Citizens have left Cape Girardeau. Answer if I 
iaust send tiiem. 

B. M. TRFNTISS, Brigadier General. 

Arsenal, Aug. 6, 1861. 
Prentiss telegraphs that hot fighting is no doubt goins 
on at Cape Girardeau, and that he has on boanl, rea ly to 
start, lour companies an J two six-pounders to t;o to liisai 1. 
lie asks if he siiall send them. I'leasj answer hiiu Ou^ht 
he nut to increase tUo reinforcements. Kuemy 5,u0ji 

CHESTER UARDING, Jr. 
To Major General Fremont. 

Cairo, Aug. 6, 1861. 
Colonel McArthur, with si.\ companies and four field 
pieces, left for Cape Girardeau 1}4 "■■ "i- ^^'1' hurry eu- 
trencliments at Bird's Point. 

B. M. PRENTISS, 
General Cjmmanding. 
To Major General Fremo.\t. 

W.iSHIXGTON, Aug. 6, ISOl. 

Orders have been sent Governor Morton to forward fn-T? 
regiments to \ our department. Hoffman's battery of ai til- 
lery, from Cincinnati, have been ordered to report to jou 
for orders. 

THOMAS A. SCOTT, 

Acting Secretary War. 
To Major General Fremont. 

Headquarters, Aug. 6, 1851. 
Heavy battery of six tweutv-loui'-pouuders and l,0?0 
men left at midnight for Girarde-u under an expeiieuced 
officer. 

J. C. FREMONT, 
M»jor General, Commanding. 
To Brigadier General B. M. Prentiss, Cairo. 

Bird's Poi.nt, Aug. G, ISO I. 
The ni"n -want to go home, a'ld if det.iin id much hnger 
tlu! w rst cousequencos may bo feared. Their time of ser- 
vice expired yettterday. Provide for their returu. They are 
of little use in their present spirit I wait your arswer. 
ROBERT KOMBAUKR. 
Miyor General Fremont. 

[Special Order No. 39.] 
Hadqu ARTERS Western Department, 

St. Louis, Aug. 8, 1861. 
The Seventh Regiment Missouri Volunteers, Colonel Stc- 
veusuu, now at Koda, will immediately proceed to Spring- 
field to join General Lyon's command. 
By order of Major General Fremont. 

JOHN C. KELTON, 
Aesisiant Adjutant General. 



[Extract.] 



[Telegram.] 

nEABQBABTERS WESTERN DEPARTMENT, 

St. Louis, Aug. S, 1S61. 



Captain Kelton will al^^o order Colonel Stevenson with 
his I egiment, now halted at Rolla, to go immediately for- 
waid an<i join Gouej-al Lyon. 

J. C. FREMONT, 
Major General, Commanding. 

[Rough draft of a letter to Montgomery Blair ] 

Augusta, l?6l. 

[The letter as sent does not differ from this in any mite 
rial point. No copy of it is in General Fremunt's posses- 
sion.) 

Tlie gi eater part of the old troops, especially the foreign 
element, is going out of service. Tliu new li'\iesaro literally 
the rawest ever go- together. They are reported b, the 
officers 10 be literally; enti ely, unacquainted wi'di the ru- 
d men s of m litar exercises. To bring them fa e b fore 
the enemy, in t! eir pie ent condition, would be a me'e un- 
man 'geable mob. I can remedy this if I can be autii. r 
iaed by t e I'rusident !tnd Secretary of War 'o collect 
throughou the o.at s iuslructed men who have Seen ser- 
vice. Wit I thero rcoull make a skeleton — meagre— but 
still a fr meworic on which to orm tbe army. T.iis :.u- 
thorit V o pht to bo allowed and the cn.st of tra spor ation. 
Don't lo.se lime, b r, be quick. 1 assure you it will require 
all we can do and do it in thi best maune', to mee. the 
enemy. I ought t.) b ■ HUppiied here wivh four or five mil- 
bons of dollar in T easury n )ies, and ihe disbursing offi- 
cers allowed to s 11 them '.t the ruling disount. 

All such equipments as I can procure ab:oad in much 



less time than I could get them herfe,I ought to be allowed 
to send for. / 

Tiiese lire my susgestions. They sre valuable. Pray 
act upon them, and what yo i do. di quio ly. It would 
subserve the public interest if an offi'er were dire ted to 
report to me, to have co <m ind of t e operati ms on the 
>]i.ssi.s.sipr'i. ."-^how this to the l^resident. The cutest in 
the Miss ssippi Val'cy will be a f-evere ce. We had best 
meet it in t .c face a^ once' and by -o doing we can rout 
them. Who now serves the country quii-klv serves it 
twice. (Signed) • J. C. FRli.MUNT. 

Hbadquartebs We.stehn Pepav.tment , 

St. Louis August 13. 1861. 
Dispatch reccjyed. Our so'diers are not iirumptly paid, 
P'^rtly from the smalf foio^ of paymasters ni re from want 
of money, whicii fatally embarias es every br • ch of t'je 
P bii J service her.;. I require this week thrcie miJioaB for 
Quartermaster's Department. 

J. C. FREMONT, 
Major GeLie-al CommandiHg. 
Hon. Thos. a. Scott, Assistant Secretary of War. 

The following dispatch was sent to Mr. J. 
T. Howard, of New York, who, at General 
Fremont's req-aest, was endeavoring to procure 
certain arms from the Union Defence Com- 
mittee of that city : 

St. Louis, August 13, 1861. 
Dispatch recsived ; send the arms witho t further bar- 
gaining, and a'so s 'n 1 your addr ss. Ship p^r Aiams & 
Co.'s f st freight, who cn.lect herj oj deli.ery Gool mea 
are losngth ir lives wliile ihe men whom they defend are 
debating teims. Answer. 

J. c. freviont, 

Major Gencr.il Commanding. 

To J. T. Howard. 

[Vol. 2, p. 79.] 

Wasiii.ngton, Sept. 14, 1861. 
On consultation with tbe President and lie d o ' Depart- 
ment, it was determined to call u^jU you for five housftnd 
well-armed infantry, o be sent here without a moments 
delay. Give them three days cooked rations. This >irjft 
from your forces to be replaced by you f om (he States of 
lUin lis, Iowa, Kansai, &a. II w uiauv men have you un- 
der arms in your district ? Please answer fully and imme- 
di itely. 

SIMON CAMERON, Secretary of War. 
To Maj Gen. Frejiont. 

[Vol. 2, p. 83.] 

W.iSHiNOTON, Sept. 14, 1861. 
Detach five thousand infantry from your iJepartment, to 
come here without delay, and report the number of the 
troops that will be left witli you. The I'res ileut dictates. 
WINFXELU SCOTT. 
To Maj. Gen. Fremont, 

[Vol. 2 p. 76.] 
Hbadquarters Western Department, 

St. Louis, Sept. U, 1861. 
T am preparing ti obey the orders received this evening 
for the five regiments. J. C. FK U 'dO V I, 

Major General Command'ng. 
To Col. E. D. TowN.SEND, Assist. Adj. Gen , 
Wasbiugtou city. 

. [Vol. 2, p. 82] 

HE.^DCiUARTERS WESTERN DEPARTMENT, 

St. Louis, Sept. 14, 1861. 
I am preparing to obey the orders rceeivod this evening 
from the Secret..ry of War for five icgimeuts. 1 also send 
messenger. J. C FREMONT, 

Majo.- General Commanding 
To Gen.TnoMAS, Adj. Gen., Washington city. 

HEADliOARTERS WSSTERN DEPARTMENT 

St. L'^uis, Sept. 17,1861. 

Captain: TheOen»ral dire ts mo to say to ou that Ma- 
jor Farnr, late of Gen. Lyon's staff, states publicly in tno 
city that he came to th se heidquartcrs and apjdied for re- 
inforcemen's for General Lyon; that the rem orcementB 
were refused, and that fro-u the viamn-r of refusal tuj ia- 
tention was to leave Gen. L\oi to h s fate. What are the 
facts in the case? Respectfully, J. II. EATO.V, 

Major U. S. Army, and M. S. 

Captain J. C. Kelton, A. A. G. 



21 



To which Capt. Kelton replied as follows : I 

September 2t, 1861. | 

Major: Yonr note was not read till this moment. I 
have no recollection of Major Farrar bringing application 
for re-enforcements to Qon Lyon. That tivery effort was 
made to send Oen. Lyon additional troops, after the arrival 
of Gen. Fremont. I do know. It was found impospil)ln to 
do so and keep open the railroad communication extending 
toward Springfield, and at the same time to meet the 
threatened advance up the Mississippi. I do not know 
anything of the manner in which the refusal to send rein- 
forcements was ma le. I can only recall, now, Major Far- 
rar in connection with his application to mo for a pass over 
the Pacific Railroad for his horses, which I declined after 
the Quartermaster had informed me it could not be author- 
ited. If I had any conversation with Major Farrar on the 
Mibjoct to which your note alludes, it has escaped me en- 
tirely. 

Very respectfully, 

JOHN C. KELTO:^, 
Late A. A. G., Col. 9th Reg. M. V. 

The foHowing is an extract from a statement 
voluntarily drawn up and offered to General 
Fremont, by Colonel Chester Harding, Assistant 
Adjutant General to General Lyon : 

Pactfic, Oct. 5, 1861. 
* * * * Looking, then, to the polition of 
affairs In this State on the 26th .July, 1801, it will bo found 
that Gen. Lyon was in the southwest, in need of reiiiforje- 
ments. Tliero was trouble in the northwest, requiring 
more troops than were th 're. In the northeast there were 
no more troops than were required to perform the task al- 
lotted to them, while in the south and southeast there was 
a rebel army of sufficient force to endanger Bird's Point, I 



Cape Girardeau, fronton, Rolla, and St. Louis, and no ade- 
quate preparation was made to meet it 

Gen. Fremont sent the 8th Missouri to Capo Girardeau, 
and tiio 4th U. S. Reserve Corps (whose term of KTvice wan 
to expire on the 8th August) to reinforc Bland at Ironton. 
lie took some of Gen. fopo's f rce from liim. added to it 
two battalions of the 1st and 2d U. S. Reserve Cori)s, (whoso 
term of service was to expire on the 7th August.) equipped 
Bud's light batiery, and started about the l^t August for 
Bird's fi.int, with the troops thus celf cted, being some- 
thing less than i.StO men. and being also all the availabls 
troops in this region, expecting to find an enemy not less 
than 20,000 strong. 

Subsequent events showed that the rebel force was not 
overestimated and noth ng but the reinforcements sent to 
the points «bove named and the expeditions down the 
river prevented its a !viinc(* upon them Common report 
greatly magnified these reinforcements; and it was gener- 
ally believed in the city and no doubt so reported to the 
rebel lealers, that Fremont had moved some 10 i' or 12,- 
000 troops to the southeast, while in fact h6 did n( t have 
over 5,000 to move, and was not strong enough at any 
point to talco tlie li'. Idand coinnrenco offensive operations. 

Gen. Fremont wasnnt inattentive to the situation • f Gen. 
Lyon's colimin. and went so far as to remove the garrison 
of Booneville, in order to send him aid. During the first 
days of August troops arr.ved in the city in large rnmbers. 
Nearly all of them wei e unai med ; all were without trans- 
portation. Re.iiiment after regiment laid for days in th« 
city without any equipments, for the reason that" the arse- 
nal was exhausted, and arms and accoutrements had to bo 
brought from the East. From these men Gen. Lyon would 
have had reinforcements, although they were wholly un- 
practiced in the use of the nnisket, and knew nothing of 
movemen s in the field: but in the me.intimo the battle ot 
the 10[h of August was fought 

CHESTER HARDING. Jr., 
Late A. A. G. upon the Staff of Brig. Gen. Lyon. 



nc 



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